Towards A New Kind Of Architectural Education!

by Evan Gross, March 4, 2009

THE INSTITUTE: Wake Up Students of Architecture No School offers you an education. Schools sell tickets for academic competitions in which you must participate in order to defeat of be defeated. In these competitions, the best prepared lead and all others follow. In order to lead, you will need to overcome obstacles behind which lies no certainty, but that of vanity. THE TEACHER: Wake up Students of Architecture No Teacher can educate you! You are on your own to create your own options and select from them. BUT ... Be warned: The restless minds will be the ones to see the truth; the seekers of a type of reality that has not been served on the plate, but can only be obtained through ceaseless explorations. You are unable to discover the truth in the abyss of a system created by minds, which have already sold their once innovative ideals to a corrupt society for worn-out promises. Do not blame them. Their constructive cycle of life ended the moment they demonstrated obedience to the monster of dishonesty. Afraid of their own shadows, our teachers say "Yes Sir", and repeat patterns of the past; right or wrong. They do not judge, but blindly accept, and single - handedly reject the extremity of any modern thinker's innovative ideas. Ignore these teachers ... poor creatures; unfortunate victims of their own creation, their own monster; "the system". Do not blame them, but do not listen to them either. You might end up being like them one day. But that is when the restless minds will mock you. That is when you will dress up in a shade of gray and pray to your gods for mercy ... just ignore them.

THE TECHNOCRAT: Emotionally shallow and victimized by a standardized education, the technocrat feeds the system and is fed by it. He is happy with how the situation is as it is, and is afraid of infinite possibilities. He cannot conceive of any reason why restless monds strive for perfection. He is the one responsible for the shit we are all in. He is the child of the aforementioned malfunctioning system. He does not create, but only reheats precooked ideas of his trade. He relies on the knowledge he was once served in a tavern called "education". His instinct is what leads him to become a technocrat. A Technocrat = a person who knows how to make a product be durable, but does not care whether it is made for a human or a beast. The Technocrat ignores beauty. He does not care about beauty. All he needs is safety, easiness and vegetarian soup. But remember: beauty is in taking the chance. Beauty is in dreaming of conquering unreachable crests. Ignore him, spit in his face ... walk away. You do not need him. He needs you! Walk Away ... Or stay. But if you do, do NOT stand still. OR YOU WILL TURN INTO ONE OF THEM!