Alien Testicles would not seem a strange thing if hanging testicles as decor or, and this is an even more distant but exciting possibility, aliens visited earth and were a despised common place. Even trying to imagine the social norms that would make hanging alien genitalia a socially acceptable non-conversation starter is even more interesting; we would really have to despise them to use their body parts as decor.
This was the thesis of Michael Young’s lecture--the architecture we produce should cause us to view the world around it a little differently and thus perhaps view the architecture differently as well. Understanding the methods of production that define our visual history is extremely important. It shows us that no object exists without context and thus no object can exist apart from the definitions ascribed to it by the context nor can the context help but be refined/defined by the new addition.
This is an extremely important notion for Architects as we use the word “redefine” like an alcoholic jumping on and off the wagon constantly seeking to redefine their existence in the world not understanding and seeing the value in the actions that simply alter the direction of their life by a few degrees--a few degrees could have saved the Titanic. Sometimes we miss the value of advancing a few steps in the continuum of design, pushing a boundary of an object or idea. We believe that change has to happen in the form of a revolution, a replacing, a vilifying of the previous to give value to the new. We do not have to tear down what is there to build new. The scientific method show us this; when new theories have more value the old theories are not demonized, yet simply forgotten in favor of the new. This constant to vilify is a product of our society and, not to digress too far down the rabbit hole, our cultural understanding that colors all the images we take in through our polarized raybans and taints the sounds of the music coming through our earbuds with ideas of objective value and independent existence.
Ideas can be powerful things as architects we have a social responsibility to understand the impact of the manifestation of those ideas on the larger social fabric. The value of our creations lie not in the shock of the form, but in the questions that form raises and the answers it provides. And if it provides no answers or even worse asks useless questions, it can still be visually striking and engaging. The imperative remains; those questions and answers move us forward in the continuum that is the human understanding of our place on roof deck, in the city, on the earth, and in the universe.
