Wednesday, August 29, 2007

What is more important to have a good hearth or a good brain?

I am realizing this is going to be a difficult research for me: social responsibility of an architect!!!
Not sure yet how to define the problematic that I want to study; part because is not related to the “architectural object” but to the motivation of the architectural object (as a gestating force), and because I want to understand the “creator” of the object and how much I / he / she influence this “object” and the consequences for others.
Still I am playing with some other ways to “redefine” this theme so I can get a good “hold” on it, but has prove to be a very elusive matter for me!
After following Dr. Childress advice about “fast reading”, I am afraid to get to the conclusion that I just carried 10 bocks (15 extra pounds) from Boston to Columbus without much benefit to my research! However I think I can get some good information from the literature I have with me, or the least, will be a starting point that might define or guide me to other directions.
Mostly, the books I brought with me talk about the education of an architect and not the education of the individual:
-The impact that an architect has in the community and the coordination that exist between team work (Architect and Community by Geoffrey Spyer); -the ideals that a building might express (Building change by Lisa Findley). -The “role” playing by the architect in the Globalizing world (Architecture ethics and technology by Louise Pelletier and Alberto Perez). -The sociologic approach of architecture as a phenomenon in society (the favored circle by Garry Stevens). -The ethical behavior that and architect should have (ethics and the practice of architecture by Barry Wasserman / Sullivan / Palermo) or the life changing inspiration that famous architects received from other “star” architects (Architects on Architects by Paul Goldberger)

I am not sure if I will have to “modify” my original statement or change my line of research, because what I am really interested is not just to develop and acquire good technical education and general values ruled by good ethics, I will like to make the connection between good people – good architect – good design. My concern is that we have been producing great designers with tons of education but little heart and passion for others: “heartless cephalic creatures” (and almost all the time…. a selfish creature!).
So now I am wonder if I am asking the right questions:
Is necessary to be a “good person” to create “good architecture”?
Can values be transmitted into and thru the “Architectural object”?
What architects should be for himself and for others?
What is an Architect?
What is not an architect?
What is the value of an architect?
What is more important to have a good hearth or a good brain?
What is first to be a passionate individual or to be passionate about architecture?
So ….the questions keep on rising…. and I try to KISS
Gus

5 comments:

Amr Raafat said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Amr Raafat said...

GUS

Very Interesting, DEEP Issue you raise Gus!

Good heart or good brain?

If the choice in our hands we would choose both.

Life is so generous to grant someone both!

or by other words why we have choose only one of both to be more important?, why cant we choose both??

why Man have to choose one thing good between all goodness.not to have it all?

"Good person" is a very flexible word, depends on who does the judgment and put the label of being good or bad.

I agree with you, Is necessary to be a “good person” to create “good architecture”?

Good person in which eyes? good architecture in which eye? what you build for x and love it, y would hate it!

That what keeps life from being absolute paradise or being an absolute hell.

we would never recognize the good heart unless we have seen the opposite, and we wont recognize good brains unless we have suffered someday from a different one!

The existence of both good heart and good brain, separate (in many times) making the earth go round! so we always need each other to make things happen.and no one cant have it all.

Can we change that?

looking forward to learn from your research and thoughts, may be it helps me to have both good heart and good brain. or atleast one would be enough for me -).

Amr

Jaclyn said...

Gus,
I think you have come up with some excellent questions for the start of your paper. Don't forget, like the said in class, you might not know the exact direction your paper will take until you have done the research. I wouldn't be concerned about having to change topics etc. at this point. You need to do the research and then go from there. The research will lead you to your statement.

Heart or brain? I don't think it has to be one or the other but only your research will tell us that. I think you bring up an excellent point that we seem to have many architects who have the education but not the heart. I ask you this. Is it possible that some of them started with the heart but the process to become licensed pushes the education so much that they lose the heart in the process? I'm not saying this is a true statement. I am just throwing it out there for discussion.

Keep up the good work. I can't wait for your final paper. This will be interesting.

-Jaclyn

Herb Childress said...

Jaclyn's comment may be crucial to this discussion. We all went into architecture school for different reasons. Some people liked to stack up Legos and construct things. Some people liked to draw and be creative. Some people liked to look at old buildings and learn how to do something similar. But we all had some desire, something (ill-defined) that we wanted to participate in. And what we got instead was often something quite different than that, in my case so different that I realized almost immediately that I didn't want to enter the profession.

I don't think it's that we have to choose between the heart or the brain, but rather that the brain is the privileged organ in modern western life, and the heart has atrophied. How do we reverse that decay? How does education engage the heart?

Gus G.-Angulo said...

Amr, Jaclyn and Herb,
I really start not liking the BAC!!!!!! This is getting so good that I am just literally running out of time and my mind is now consuming me with all these topics!!!! (just like the masochist……the more pain the more pleasure!!).
I could go hours in each one of your comments:
I agree, we need both… but if you were to chose only one which one would you chose???!!!
I find very interesting Amr’s comment:
"we would never recognize the good heart unless we have seen the opposite, and we wont recognize good brains unless we have suffered someday from a different one!"
This is the reason for me to research about this: I have seen so many “humanly, morally and socially” incompetent people making architecture that I am afraid I can become one!
And I think we al do have different reasons why we want to be “architects”, but I think this dose not excuse us to not be more responsible and committed with the society that we serve, the profession that we claim and ourselves that we define!
Gus