Architectural prostitution?
June 10th, 2009 | by ecadman |Apparently architects down under are being forced to “prostitute themselves to cookie-cutter-style building templates” due to the constraints inflicted by the Australian government’s economic stimulus package.
“Money is being thrown into building templates for school developments that are completely inappropriate and bare no connection to their surroundings,” Farnan Findlay director, Joel Farnan, told Architecture & Design.
News Junkie can see his point – no-one ever wants to work only for the money, especially if they know that the work they are producing is below par, inappropriate and will potentially cause more damage to a community than good. Substandard buildings do a disservice to everyone and are, frankly, a waste of cash at a time when funding is hard to come by.
But the argument does seem a bit whingey when you compare the situation in Australia to the fate of architects in Ireland, where an estimated 40% have lost their jobs.
Is it better to be working on projects you know are rubbish or not working at all?
No related posts.
![OlyWA - Old Capitol [HDR]](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4444223391_3f773952be_s.jpg)
2 Responses to “Architectural prostitution?”
By Joeb on Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
News Junkie’s point of ‘it better to be designing rubbish than not working’ is totally off the mark.
The work is there, it needs doing and it should be done well.
Every bad building is a missed opportunity and does the profession a huge disservice.
By Adrian Thompson on Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
This template that the Aussies have to work with wouldn’t happen to be like CLASP et al. would it? Some of those designs have proved costly to maintain.