Do architects have a god complex?

1. Do architects have a god complex? Power, ego, and the failures of top-down design. by Lukas LaLiberté

2. Architect as the defender of civilization: Noble life demands a noble architecture for noble uses of noble men. Lack of culture means what it has always meant: ignoble civilization and therefore imminent downfall. -Frank Lloyd Wright

3. “Bird’s Nest” – Herzog and de Meuron Beijing, China http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjm88/1081758798/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjm88/1081758798/

4. Herzog: For us, this stadium is more than just a building. It’s a part of a city. Vision is always such a big word, but our vision was to create a public space, a space for the public, where social life is possible, where something can happen, something that can, quite deliberately, be subversive or — at least — not easy to control or keep track of. SPIEGEL: Your architecture as an act of resistance? Aren’t you exaggerating? Herzog: No. We see the stadium as a type of Trojan horse. We fulfilled the spatial program we were given, but interpreted it in such a way that it can be used in different ways along it perimeters. As a result, we made everyday meeting places possible in locations that are not easily monitored, places with all kinds of niches and smaller segments. In other words, no parade grounds.

5. SPIEGEL: These games are unique, precisely because they are taking place in a country with such a controversial regime like China's. It's obvious that the architect who creates the structural frame for this event will be in the global limelight. Did this make the commission so tempting as to override moral reservations? Herzog: Only an idiot -- and not a person who thinks in moral terms would have turned down this opportunity -- would have said no. http://totallycoolpix.com/2010/12/best-pictures-of-the-decade-the-noughties/

6. Architects and power The architect represents neither a Dionysian nor an Apollonian condition: here it is the mighty act of will, the will which moves mountains, the intoxication of the strong will, which demands artistic expression. The most powerful men have always inspired the architects; the architect has always been influenced by power. -Friedrich Nietzsche

7. Robert Moses – New York’s Master Planner "There is nobody against this - NOBODY, NOBODY, NOBODY but a bunch of, a bunch of MOTHERS." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Moses_with_Battery_Bridge_model.jpg

8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Moses_with_Battery_Bridge_model.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Moses_with_Battery_Bridge_model.jpg http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7084&page=4

9. “…the best thing about it is that we have substituted nothing for the rookeries but broad highways lined with landscaping and recreation facilities, open to the sun and the elements, and affording the very best incentive to further slum clearance and improvement on their boundaries." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Moses_with_Battery_Bridge_model.jpg http://home.comcast.net/~coopcity/pictures/my_pix.html

10. Jane Jacobs: The Antithesis to Moses “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”  - Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Jane_Jacobs.jpg

11. What major projects have caused serious negative reactions?

12. "Ponte sums up all the hope, all the wrong ideas of modernism, all the decay, all the craziness of the city. It is a symbolic building, a sort of white whale, it is concrete fear, the tower of Babel, and yet it is strangely beautiful". Ponte Tower – Manfred Hermer Johannesburg, South Africa "Ponte sums up all the hope, all the wrong ideas of modernism, all the decay, all the craziness of the city. It is a symbolic building, a sort of white whale, it is concrete fear, the tower of Babel, and yet it is strangely beautiful.” -German writer Norman Ohler http://transitorycities.wordpress.com/2010/07/10/ponte-tower/

13. "Ponte sums up all the hope, all the wrong ideas of modernism, all the decay, all the craziness of the city. It is a symbolic building, a sort of white whale, it is concrete fear, the tower of Babel, and yet it is strangely beautiful". Ponte tower was the epitome of apartheid-era design. Built in 1975, Ponte is the tallest residential skyscraper in Africa. The outer, light-facing apartments were designed for rich white families, while the dark inner spaces were built for black servants. After apartheid, this building became a looming symbol of oppression, and a hotbed for criminal activity. It was abandoned, and left to decay. http://jeffblumenkrantz.com/tillim_item3a.jpg

14. http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jul/11/rencontres-d-arles-photography-festivalhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jul/11/rencontres-d-arles-photography-festival