The Joy Of Architecture: Does Fun Follow Form, Function Fear & Finance?

Where is the fun in contemporary architecture? As a process, creating buildings seems to revolve around function, finance and fear rather than freeing things up for flexible flights of fancy. To add insult to injury 99% of the time the end product is uninspiring and distinctly average. So do architects actually enjoy what they spend most of their time doing?

Through building we create new realities, and in doing so we have a choice whether we make earthbound Heavens or accidental Hells. In the C21st can architecture be rediscovered as a liberating and democratising force able to help create a better world for all, with buildings standing for a celebration of life itself?

What makes a building a piece of ‘Architecture’ should help define what ‘A Joy In Architecture’ is, and yet in answering this question a trap can be seen to await designers, because a kind of ‘Joyless-ness’ frequently ends up being the result of their labours, be it in the nobility of obsessively-detailed-material-craft at one end of the spectrum, or the gimmickry of brightly coloured ‘tack on’ shapes at the other.

It seems that in Britain today, rational and formulaic brick boxes have become a lazy shorthand for design quality and appear to be the height of our collective ambition. Tasteful, inoffensive aesthetics are the order of the day and whilst this might please planners looking for ‘something that fits in’, do the general public agree? More conservative organisations argue that people crave traditionalism as a return to a golden age of architecture, but buildings should be about more than just an external aesthetic. These are the places we live and work within and the quality of every space we occupy has an emotional & psychological impact on us in our daily lives.

Is it any surprise that we’re in this position when the built environment is seen first and foremost as an investment opportunity rather than an opportunity to create amazing places and spaces? Where’s the joy in Architecture?

Speakers:

Dr Jane Clossick, London Metropolitan University (Chair)

Lee Ivett, Baxendale Studio

Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg, Space Popular

Alpa Depani, London Borough of Waltham Forest

Francis Terry, Francis Terry and Associates

Alfredo Caraballo, Allies & Morrison