The Architecture Chronicle - Diary of an Architectural Practice

Most books on architecture start when a building is completed, carefully editing out any evidence \nof the design and production process. As a result, architecture is often seen as a product \nrather than a process. \nThe Architecture Chronicle is about architecture as a practice. It has two parts. The book Blur: \nthe Making of Nothing, by Diller and Scofidio, has informed the format of part one. Blur book \nreports on the design and construction process of Blur building from initial design ideas to the \ncompletion of the building. Part one is a diary reporting on the realisation of five stage sets \nand one urban intervention realised over a period of four years, starting on 16 December \n2003. The diary is intercepted by references that are, where appropriate, carefully integrated \nin the overall design. The book Delirious New York: A retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan, by \nRem Koolhaas, tells the story of the building of New York with the author taking on the role of \na ‘ghost writer’1, putting into perspective the ‘mountains of evidence’2 to discover patterns, \nmethodologies and strategies. Part two is such a ‘retroactive manifesto’3, mining the projects \nin the diary for strategies that re-appear and fortify throughout The Architecture Chronicle. \nIn his book Words and Buildings: A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture, Adrian Forty observes \nthat the pre-Renaissance architect worked on the building site amongst other tradesmen in an \nenvironment of dispersed authorship. It was his ability to draw and to write, acquired during \nthe Italian Renaissance, that allowed the architect to remove himself from the site of construction \nand to upgrade his status from anonymous craftsman amongst others to artistic creator. \nNew procurement methods have changed the role of the architect in contemporary construction \nprojects. To minimise liability, and as a result of the increased specialisation of building \nprofessionals, contemporary buildings are designed by a design team. This threatens the status \nof the architect as artistic creator. Today, the architect operates once again in an environment \nof dispersed authorship as a member of the design team working alongside other design \nprofessionals. Drawings are more often produced by visualisers, engineers and sub-contractors \nthan by architects while text is more often written by surveyors or specifiers. \nTo maintain his status as artisitc creator, the architect in The Architecture Chronicle takes on \nthree distinct characters. The architect-inventor challenges conventions and questions the \nsocial status quo. The architect-activist transgresses the boundary of the profession and \nenters the construction process. The architect-arbitrator engages the audience to realise the \nambitious project. The Architecture Chronicle concludes that the contemporary architect still \ndraws and writes, but that it is often the architect’s ability to engage and direct that asserts \nhis or her status. To assert his or her status in the design team, the architect’s ability to talk \nand to act is more important than his or her ability to draw and write.