We at ArchDaily are used to picking the best buildings for you, dear readers, but we felt it was time to turn the tables a bit. The following is the best of you. You didn’t always agree with us, but you opined intelligently, and for that we salute you.
The Top 3 Comments in March 2012
3. From Community-Oriented Architecture in Schools: How ‘Extroverted’ Design Can Impact Learning and Change the World, about the potential of architecture to transform the lives of students in low-income communities.
”Imagine if we designed all public space as if we lived in a democracy. Imagine if we treated participation as a right. Imagine if this was part of the core curriculum in architecture schools.”
– Graeme Bristol
Our Number 1 Comment, after the break…
2. From The Motherships Are Landing: What Google’s New Headquarters Reveal About Apple 2, about Google and Apple’s plans for expansion.
“To me this is the sort of analysis the article missed. At it’s core Apple is a whole widget company (at least during it’s successful periods) yet for almost all of that history has been scattered around a number of buildings. They already know how to cope with off-site teams. Growing larger isn’t an issue. This building seems to be about bring the core of the company together.”
– Matt
1. From In Defense of Introverts, about the lack of provision in architecture for Introverted learning styles.
“I think this culture of extroversion is not really designed to foster independent thinking, but is a form of psychological control. From my own experiences in architecture, this open, “collaborative” environment, where worker drones so nicely sit in poise out in the open while click-clacking on their computers, creates an atmosphere where people become desensitized to being on display. Privacy screen and cubicles are treated as obstacles that inhibit creativity, but really just serve to prevent colleagues and those higher up from constantly watching and monitoring behavior. Sitting and thinking is actually frowned upon as being a waste of productivity. Why are you just sitting there? Why are you not talking, or typing, or writing, or drawing, or multitasking?”
– Mark Genest
Thanks Graeme, Matt, and Mark! Now, it’s your turn. Our latest Editorials could use some intrepid conversation starters:
- From Mad Men to Mies: Why Modernism Holds Sway, about Modernism’s ongoing appeal, as revealed by the popularity of the AMC show Mad Men and its Modernist design aesthetic.
- The Multiplier Effect: How Design (and the Internet) Connects Us, about the power of design, as disseminated on online platforms, to build a better future.
- Journey to the Center of New York: Can Design “Cure” Our Cities?, about the power of parks (such as the High Line and the underground Low Line) to transform our cities’ “sick” spaces.
