The efforts of Brad Pitt's Make it Right foundation in New Orleans are without doubt honorable. His support has facilitated the reconstruction effort helping those who lost their houses to Hurricane Katrina. In so doing, he not only sought to provide housing, but housing with style. I think it's safe to say that his fashion sense does not exactly match up with the people he intends to help. This begs the question; does fashion and architecture mix? Well, yes and no.
Certain architecture has always had the ability to adapt to changing fashions. Just start with good bones and accessorize. Awnings may change, the outdoor furniture may change, landscaping, color, patterns, and most certainly the people. This is how many older cities manage to stay relevant to the needs and aesthetic desires of a modern world.
One thing is key, however, and that is the importance of dressing up a good body. It must be said that the cities of Rome, Milan, Paris, New York, Chicago, and many others have some good architectural DNA to start with. Buildings with good DNA can always wear the mode du jour, be it Gucci, Prada, DKNY, or a classic Savile Row suit.
Once it is understood that fashion is the cloth the covers and the accessories that highlight then the architect can design a structure that will keep up with the times as well as stand the test of time. When the architect uses the form as fashion the problems multiply. As the architect Robert Stern once said, "today's ism is tomorrow's wasm." By using the form of the structure itself as the agent of fashion the architect effectively disallows it to change with the times. Buildings such as these will be forever in their polyester leisure suits. They are the architectural equivalent of embarrassing wedding photos, there to remind the kids that powder blue suits with ruffled shirts are never a good idea.
This is where I think Mssr. Pitt missed the mark. He saw his countrymen in need. He gave them the shirt off his back. He happens to wear Dolce. Yet what was produced through his foundation didn't wear high fashion, it was high fashion. Those he aimed to help will be in their leisure suits years after the world of fashion has moved beyond them.
This will have a dramatic impact on the neighborhood as a whole. An architecture that cannot adapt will find itself outmoded. When that happens it will be sent to the thrift store. We've seen this cycle before in the experiments of the 1960's and 1970's. The neighborhoods were high fashion at the time, but not easily adaptable. Once their fifteen minutes of fame was up they experienced extreme devaluation. That this mistake is being repeated globally, at the direction of the supposed best and brightest of the profession, is unconscionable.
The next time you change your shirt stop and think about the poor souls who can't.
No comments:
Post a Comment