 | 21st century architects increasingly turning to planning 07-04-2008 21st century architects are increasingly turning to planning. In her article
'Star Cities' for Architect Online, Joan Ockman identifies a new trend in
architecture. She states that the world's best-known architects are ever more
involved in planning as well. She consequently wonders whether this also means a
new urbanism is emerging. On the basis of several international cases such as
Bilbao and Abu Dhabi, she explores this question and concludes that having a
single architect putting his or her stamp on a large-scale urban development,
might not always be very desirable.
Ockman found that famous architects are no longer just in the business of
designing signature buildings. They are also increasingly functioning as
megascale planners, in cooperation with the biggest developers in the world and
local municipalities. This implies a major change from the dominating
architectural ideas that existed in the 1970s and 80s.
One of the first architects who had to deal with the 'new scale of
architecture' was Rem Koolhaas, who was commissioned to design a new city center
for Lille in the early 1990s. In the mid-to late 90s, there were many major
redevelopment projects in which 'superstar' architects were called upon. This
was the time when dysfunctional urban districts had to be transformed into
tourist and consumer meccas, Ockman explains. The Bilbao case is one of the most
important examples of this era.
In Ockman's opinion "the idea of “large-scale” is increasingly bound up with
that of “upscale" in global capitalism. The use of publicly underwritten
gentrification has become the preferred neoliberal strategy for urban renewal.
The new scale of architectural work also has important geopolitical dimensions,
because the current projects reflect a concentration in the hands of the few of
not just great wealth but also great power."
The author claims that all these issues raise profound questions for both
public policy and the culture of architecture. Finally however, there is also
the matter of the desirability of having a single architect put his or her stamp
on such a wide swath of our everyday landscape. "If not just the museum and the
office tower but also the corner grocery and the street lamp are designed by
Frank Gehry or Zaha Hadid, will we become true prisoners of architecture?"
Source:
Architect
Online
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