At university, there has been many an occasion when myself, or some other poor student, has been told that the design of their building is arbitrary. There is no real concept behind the proposal, no big idea driving it, nada, nowt. Just a design that is the way it is, just because. Even now, when I come across that word in a magazine or newspaper -which thankfully isn’t often - I’m taken right back to the good old Crit Days of first year and second year, where success was measured in ten to fifteen minutes of presenting and appraising of the terms project. And if you didn’t have a strong concept or theme backing up every decision you made... then woe betide you.
So with this knowledge never to design something ‘arbitrary’ instilled in me for life, I always get a wee bit annoyed when I see architects designing something that would have never got through the shrewd eyes of the university tutors! The design would be torn to shreds, scribbled over, and the designer would no doubt be left a blubbering wreck. Architecture Crits are cruel like that. I’m not trying to say I could do better - I’m just amazed by how silly buildings sometimes gets. And I do love playful architecture, but well, these are something else. The Jenga house in particular, is stunning, but having to sleep on a hard block of wood I draw the line at. Perhaps I just need to lighten up! Would you enjoy living in either of these??
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