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Summary /Bin

Before taking this class, I am a 100% architecture idealist. My interest only lied in a narrow design field. Although I was told that architects have little power in the real practice and market, I was happy for having “avant-garde” ideas and tried to be an “academic person”. While now, at the end of this semester, I have a broader perspective and understanding of our profession in contemporary time. And I think academic knowledge can be used in a very different way.

The most impressive topic to me is about the future of cities and architecture. We are now at a cross road of history, just as we had experienced several times before. Massive changes are happening every day. If I have to pick two words to define the direction, I would say “sustainability” and “media”. (in contemporary time “digitalism”).

The shamed thing to admit is that I am not interested in “sustainability” at all. I even refused to sign my name on a sheet from Elena which asks for more sustainability class in Berkeley. Maybe that is because I classify “sustainability” an engineering issue more than a design issue. And I think we need more theoretical and design improvement in Berkeley. However, I definitely believe it is a very important word and will dramatically influence architecture and cities. Globalizm, energy crisis, accelerating development, all of these social issues ask us, not only architects but the whole society, to rethink the strategy of maintaining our living. I will always remember Nicholas’s argument that “It is not a game to win but a game to keep playing.”

“Media” is another word I think will change the world. Brick, concrete, steel are media, as well as computer. History proved that architecture changes when the media change. Actually many words, such as “animation”, “hybrid”, “metamorphosis”, are based on “media”. Without the digital technology, I don’t think architects would involve themselves in these discourses. I admire my previous instructor David Erdman, and many others in this field. To me, they are real “avant-gardes” of our time, though I won’t like the cities full of Greg Lynn forms. Fortunately, the most important thing about media is not only can they change the forms of architecture, but also the way we design and think, and hopefully can change people’s life in a good way, which I am personally very interested and want to learn and explore more in this unique digital age.

“Sustainability” and “media” are most about social consciousness and science respectively. They seem now two parallel directions. However, Designing with social consciousness by new science and technology is what I’d like to do. How to develop and interact the two is probably our future. Apparently architects have a long long way to go.