Report on 'Architecture in the Age of Austerity': 30 April 2012
‘Architecture in the Age of Austerity’ was attended by approximately 100 people from many countries including the UK, India, Russia, Italy, Poland, Cyprus, Germany, Cuba, Guatemala, Canada, and the USA. Participants included INTBAU Chapter Heads, members of INTBAU’s College of Traditional Practitioners, general members of INTBAU, members of the Traditional Architecture Group, other practitioners and members of the public, and members of the press.
The purpose of the event was to discuss what type of architecture we can afford in a recession. The morning session consisted of a high-level overview of the economics and social consequences of a recession. The keynote speaker was the Rt Hon Lord Norman Lamont, former Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1990-1993. Lord Lamont prefaced his talk with an explanation of his personal interest in architecture, before giving his thoughts on the current economic climate and the likelihood of recovery in both the short and the longer term in the UK and abroad. He also spoke of the ability of recessions to fulfill a useful purpose, mentioning Schumpeter’s theory of creative destruction.
Lord Lamont said he is “very optimistic” about the future of the architectural profession despite the announcement in April that Britain is in a double-dip recession, caused by a sharp decline in the construction industry. His positive outlook for architects included star architects whose projects involve big budgets and non-traditional, often unsustainable designs. Lord Lamont made many references to literature, popular culture, and the “normalcy bias” of economics, to which he adheres. A Cole Porter song lyric provided the running theme of his talk: “is it an earthquake or simply a shock?”
Professor Scott Lash, Director of the Centre for Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths University, followed with a discussion on public space austerity and the current recession’s creation of a third space somewhere between public and private. Professor Lash drew heavily on the recent ‘Occupy’ protests as well as last August’s riots in the UK. A panel discussion moderated by Alireza Sagharchi closed the morning session and included Lord Lamont, Professor Lash, and Paul Morrell OBE, Chief Construction Advisor to the UK government.
Professor Scott Lash, The Rt Hon Lord Lamont, Alireza Sagharchi, Paul Morrell OBE. Image courtesy of Richard Ivey.
The afternoon session opened with Professor Robert Adam’s discussion of ‘Profligacy, Austerity, and the End of the Party’. Professor Adam argued that there is inevitably a lag in the time it takes the built environment to respond to a financial crisis, referencing projects such as Renzo Piano’s Shard and Herzog and de Meuron’s Paris Pyramid.
Farrokh Derakhshani, Director of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, then gave an overview of a number of projects which have won awards, and the evolution of sustainability criteria. Dr Semion Mikhaylovsky, Rector of the St Petersburg Academy of Art, followed with observations on Russia’s weathering of its own financial crisis in the late 1990s.
Deependra Prashad, architect and Chair of INTBAU India, gave a comparison of two fictional children in India, one in a middle class family and the other in a comparatively poor family, which mapped their differing ecological footprints based on the resources their lifestyles require. Steve Mouzon closed the afternoon session with his thoughts on the need for connectedness, the unsustainable nature of fashion, and the differences between conserving and consuming economies. Steve Mouzon finished his presentation by bringing proceedings full circle, back to Lord Lamont’s positing that a recession can fulfill a useful purpose. The current chance for traditional design to be recognised as something inherently sustainable and part of an eco-friendly lifestyle means that “we should be celebrating this day.”
A panel discussion followed involving all afternoon speakers and moderated by Dr Matthew Hardy, founding INTBAU Secretary and Senior Lecturer at the Prince’s Foundation.
Steve Mouzon, Farrokh Derakhshani, Deependra Prashad, Dr Semion Mikhaylovsky, Professor Robert Adam.
Image courtesy of Richard Ivey.
The Prince's Foundation produced an excellent film to celebrate 10 years since INTBAU's official launch. You can watch it on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YhLm2fj-OQ8
