archificial

Everyday I feel more like a whore for architecture. Architects no longer have any integrity they sell themselves out to who will every pay for there services. They live in the fear of failure they will not eat or provide for there families, fear of not pleasing there client who by the way has no idea what they want. Architects must get passed this fear and hold true to what architecture is meant to be. It only takes one architect to reduce the whole profession and for that matter the world by selling themselves out to products and mass produced manufacturing parasites that allow them to save time and a buck. In my office we have "lunch and learns". Sometimes these can be good, when a brick or concrete company comes in and speaks of the many possibilities with there building material, but most of the time it is a product representative from some cheap artificial surface or laminate company. Architecture is not a building pieced together from a series of different product magazines! To be a good architect has nothing to do with how many products one knows of. Integration is not picking out handles that match the trim on the cabinet door! The handle is the door, that is integration! It is the architects responsibility to make their clients understand what they want and need. A lot of people will buy a 250,000$ Greek revival home in which fake arches have been applied on the face of an abundance of wood studs and nails, in which the fenestration's and orientation have no relationship to sunlight or the way in which the person uses the home. A true Architect is a Psychologist, Sociologist, Philosopher, Engineer, Scientist, Inventor, and Artist. It is only by being these things that an architect can focus on the sacred and profane and the general and specific simultaneously. But more and more architect are bitch slapped by there clients and engineers and they have stopped taking responsibility for the spaces they create all together. Integration and sustainability are words they throw around to sell projects and most don't understand what those words really mean. I am done...for now.

The Job Offer

I received a call the other day that will change my life. I was at work like any other day and the phone rings, I answer it, and the man asks “do you have a second to talk” I say sure at this point I already know its not an Engineer, Architect or Client, and I have a sneaky suspicion of who it might be. The man says “ I have a client that is looking to fill a couple of positions and you were highly recommended. For the right person the money is wide open.” In the past I have received these calls and immediately hung up, but this time for some reason I listened to what he had to offer. He asked me if I might be interested in one of these positions or if I could recommend somebody who would be. I hesitated a bit, Maybe it was my girlfriend who was sitting near me (I am lucky enough to work in the same office as her) and I was probably trying to show off a little in front of her, maybe it was the fact that I am making less money this year then last, or maybe I was just looking for a little something to stir things up. Probably a little of everything. Anyhow I don’t quite remember what happened after that and the next thing I know I have an interview in two days!
So I go to meet the guy on Saturday and now it turns out that I am in a position to make a lot more money. But unfortunately its not quite that simple. There are many trade offs that make this offer somewhat less appealing. 30 min commute, less girlfriend time, not as cutting edge software oriented ( although that would be part of my job I hope), more conservative, possible longer work hours ( I had a nightmare in which everyone in the office worked until 6:30 ahhhh can you imagine) more conservative work and work environment. It is also possible that this is all my own anxiety about change.
My current job is great I get to travel all around the country, I get a lot of design freedom or so I think, No demanding work hours, laidback liberal office in the middle of all the action, parties and art shows. This is the only job I have had outside of college and I have only been working for about two years, I still have about two years until I am licensed, I mean what do I know. So here I am about to make a decision and I don’t know what to do, In one hand I have A LOT OF MONEY that I could defiantly use, along with a new experience that could be good or bad. In the other hand I have a great firm with great people and I am comfortable there.
Humph I don’t know…