Modernism déjà vu

I guess there is some sort of bitter in the following words. I admit it.

I've worked with other architects but for some reason I was unable to correspond to what was expected. Everyday I would feel completely tired from just sitting in front of a computer, making lines in CAD.

I realized that to some extent, ideas are not that welcomed. The Eureka moment, after a careful process of creation was not shared.

It is a fact that after five years out of architectural school, I have not built a single building I designed. This is a good thing if we consider the environmental problems we face. I guess i could say that I personally haven't contributed with another building to the increase in CO2. But I could also look at it and think:

all the buildings I did not build...someone else ended out designing them.

So, unless all those potential buildings are being built by very eco-conscious designers (architects and all sorts of other professionals that design buildings in my country) I feel I have been missing out the chance to do some good, my little share of the good.

I think this is a time of reflection for me. I came to realize I don’t really like the buildings I have designed so far. They are the product of a narrow view of architecture I am trying to break. They are still the product of a poor architectural education I had and gave myself.

I believe architecture should absolutely reflect the time we live on. Today first of all, I would place environment as a main preoccupation.

So:

the Avant-garde architect must incorporate environmental sustainability as a serious vector of his work.

All architectural critics should look carefully into this vector. Environmental sustainability should be a focus point for architectural critic today.

The time of the eco-fashion, eco-marketing of non serious approaches should be over.

Avant-garde architecture starts with sustainability.

All architecture produced today that does not address sustainability seriously is outdated.

I haven’t done it seriously yet, so as far as this goes, it is a good thing my projects never became reality.

Modernism, spatial and temporal conceptions up until and including Einstein are dead.

New geometries and the computer are opening new horizons.

Many schools still prohibit the use of CAD and all other computer based workflows during most of the program. This is a total error. I firmly believe that all the modernist architecture we are educated to pursue “could fit” in no more than one year of school.

I wish Mathmatics and it’s true beauty had been part of my school education.

I wish Philosophy had been part of my school education.

I wish Geometry had been part of my school education. I wish I had figured out then that geometry is so much more than Descriptive geometry.

People often think of architects as “modern”, visionaries, “strange” … Most of the time this is not true. Architecture is a slow paced changing field. Architectural education is no different. We often have to look other ways, to other areas, other industries, to find new paths, and them bring them into our own field.

Portugal is to a certain extend under the SoutoMourization (Souto Moura) of architecture. The box is everywhere. The two floor orthogonal box scheme is everywhere. In my unbuilt work too. It is an amazing thing to deliver this early XX century model, when people desired complex, curved shaped cars and high-tech, high-definition flat screens.