Argyrios Seminar 3: Post – Capitalism

Notes from our conversation about Argyrios’s 3rd seminar.

Argyrios

Post-capitalist architecture

0.1% of the population has access to the services of an architect.

We mainly provide the services to the elite and also to very locally specific things.

Neglecting localism: the architect becomes less of a designer and a designer of a framework.

DK: How is this different from 20^th century socialist modernism?

The architect is also hiring workers and educating them, not just fees.

Is our role stuck in the past?

How do machines? Do they have perception?

Michal:

Value of the Architect – how do we link to – productivity as value for our work

Michal thinks the value of architect’s work should be based on the result or output, rather than the production or process.

Argyrios:

The value of the architect. Maybe our role should be more open to the community.

The role of having ARB and RIBA. Is there a reason for these institutions to exist?

ARB gives you additional liability.

Marco:

It seems like the ambition is to redefine everything, which is great. But maybe it would be beneficial to give a degree of scale to the definitions.

Regarding liability, we have this social contract. The problem might not be the RIBA or ARB but society as a whole.

Typology was interesting to Marco. Aldo Rossi: links the idea of typology to the city.

Also Marco found the idea of participation interesting.

Stella:

The discussion between value vs productivity is interesting.

For architects – value has to do with beauty, uniqueness, etc… And yet for real estate people, it might be something different.

Some of the ideas have come previously in the ages –

From mass productivity to mass customization?

How will this agenda be used to move from theory to design? And how will it be different from what has come in the past?

Argyrios:

There is a feeling that the business model that is currently creating our buildings is going to reach a dead end at some point.

Communism 2.0? Distributed wealth, distributed knowledge? Where are we pointing here?

Our value is very low in relation to the rest of the market. Question.

Stella:

People cannot live without hospital, pharmacist, teachers.

Why do they believe that they can live without architects?

Marco:

It would be nice to survey what architectural graduates end up doing, and what does that mean in terms of the value that they contribute?

DaeWha

“Professionalisation” and “Democratisation”

Moving production to the consumer? Distributed 3d printing for instance.

Arthur and self – build, community – build, self – print.

Teaching and leading and opening rather than closing and secreting.

Value / Fees, salaries, market value

• Airport designer – knowledge. Real, valuable knowledge.
• The question of Star Architects – adding value. Perhaps a perversion.
• Michal: maybe we are leaving behind the era of iconic branding buildings (Bilbao)

Impact / Accessibility / Reach

• Cambodia project might have more impact?
• Compared to OWO? Bigger potential impact?

Marco:

• Value in terms of how the architect is perceived by clients/society.
• We are at the forefront of the possibility to create value.

Designing spaces that are at the forefront to design the social ordering of society.