In the first issue of arcCA this year, “Image Mirror,” we looked at how non-architects value architects. In the second issue, “Citizen Architects,” we profiled architects who bring their own values to bear in their communities, applying their architectural expertise in ways that extend beyond the bounds of typical practice. Now, in the current issue, we consider some ways in which societal values become manifest in buildings.
We have not attempted an exhaustive survey of the idea of value in architecture, an effort that would consume many volumes of our trim magazine (assuming we could even agree on what to include). For readers interested in such a survey, I can recommend volumes 10 & 11 of Center, the journal of the Center for American Architecture and Design at the University of Texas at Austin. These two volumes, straightforwardly entitled “Value” and “Value 2,” explore “the theme of economic value, its nature and relationship to other values, to what we do, and ultimately to what and how we build.” Edited by Michael Benedikt, Center is distributed by University of Texas Press.
Rather than a broad survey, we have chosen to take several well-defined samples from what, for us, remains a loosely defined field. The first of these samples is taken at the intersection of environmental sustainability and government leadership. It includes three reports: one on California’s two newest federal buildings, for LA and San Francisco, products of the GSA’s “Design Excellence” program and exemplars of sustainable design; one on a parallel sustainability effort at the state level, as realized in Sacramento’s Capitol Area East End complex; and an outline of the state’s own design excellence agenda, presented by the State Architect.
Our second sample juxtaposes two perspectives on historic preservation and its relation to contemporary design. Photographer Mark Luthringer’s images of abandonment offer a third perspective on history, memory, and the expendability of buildings.
Luthringer’s photographs form a bridge to the final sample, a consideration, in two parts, of the fate of modernism in the post-war suburb. Like the articles on government-sponsored greening and historic preservation, these essays on speculative residential development highlight ways in which values become institutionalized, here through the policies of lending institutions and homebuilders associations.
Sustainability, preservation, speculation—three ways (among many) in which we define our investment in the built environment. Each has its more or less obvious political dimension, and each is profound in its long-term implications. None, however, has the harsh immediacy of the politics of urban development in Israel and the Occupied Territories. In the July issue of Architectural Record, Michael Sorkin describes the situation there with characteristic clarity and insight. For anyone interested in architecture and value, Sorkin’s article, “Urbanism is Politics: Lessons from a Place Where the Extremes Now Rule,” is essential reading.
Originally published 3rd quarter 2002, in arcCA 02.3, “Building Value.”
