“Intrigued, I called Weaver. When we finally spoke this week, he fumed about how, according to him, the local landscape is dominated by ‘establishment architects’ who win jobs through political influence, not merit, and by clients who want work done on the cheap.
‘I kind of feel like I’m this homegrown underdog, he said. ‘If you’re plugged in and you’re connected, it’s great. If you’re not, it’s cold out there.’”… (go to article)
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January 20, 2008 at 11:54 am
Well, hell.
You read the entire article and wonder, “Hey, what is going on? Why aren’t there any people disgruntled about this? Is there a solution?” and then you may take the time to do a little research and maybe run across information supporting that yes, some people do recognize this, and yes, it could be construed as a problem (if one really wanted to argue it).
So, is the issue that the big corporate firms are really gobbling up all the amazing contracts? That this city is so invested on amazing design strategies that every firm (regardless of intent or talent) could offer something amazing to the landscape?
In a word, no.
Architecture offers various options as solutions. If you want to push the envelope than fight for it, if you want competition work, than enter (the multiple national and international) competitions. If you are sick of nepotism/cronyism than speak out, fight against it, organize like minded people, advertise your prowess, teach, mentor, create, show that you have the ability to do what you want to do.
Is it the city’s responsibility to inform the general public and set the standard? If they attempted to do that would their opinion be valid or informed? Don’t be lazy, be passionate. Don’t be pessimistic, see the opportunity. Otherwise the rants are just that, tiring angry rants.
Granted the city is ripe with examples of poorly designed projects and the awarding of contracts that are suspect at best, and perhaps it is even our fault for overly authenticating those projects by paying them any mind. However I fail to see how this (Litt’s) article even helps. It is so easy to point out the faults without any understanding of a solution. So what would make the city better? If local talent would stand up more for what they believed in or if they were in on take as well?
By the way, most competition work can be entered by smaller firms or individuals willing to partner with larger local houses for the documentation and construction phases if the smaller firm is unable to handle that part of the work load.
January 20, 2008 at 12:35 pm
While I can agree with the frustration that larger established firms hold most of this city’s work, I suspect that the largest reason for this is that the younger generation in this city is expecting some sort of changing of the guard, when simply, they must prove themselves better at the architecture game. NOTHING is holding these firms back from going after commissions outside of this city, participating in competitions, exhibiting your ideas or design, or simply building relationships with influential people.
Prove your “merit”, Kurt Weaver. In this digital age, in a small town like Cleveland, you have infinite opportunities to have your voice heard as you have in this article. Instead of blowing off steam on the pages of Cleveland.com, maybe you should have used the opportunity to exhibit WHY you are a “homegrown underdog” who deserves to be found. In fact, I’m sure Mr. Litt is just as frustrated with covering the same architects over and over again, so you’ve already found a willing listener.
In a small way, I am happy that Mr. Litt has written this article and that Kurt Weaver was willing to speak – its a good step that the young generation be uninhibited in their opinions, even if I disagree.
My two cents.
January 20, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I double posted this on the Littster’s blog too…
While I see where Kurt’s thoughts would come off as sour grapes, I also think the article raises some points.
One must also keep in mind that it is possible that everything Kurt has said is getting filtered though another person who would have their own opinions and personal agenda, particularly on the issue of architectural quality in Cleveland…
As soon as I read this I wondered why Litt has never asked those of us at Cleveland Design City or LAUNCH the same questions, because we have been having this same conversation for quite awhile.
One could make many of these same comments about the AIA’s abject failure at not being a whole lot more then an old boys club in this city and being a total joke when it comes to supporting young talent.
Maybe for some we’ve gotten over being bitter and are trying to do something about it…
Nevertheless, I think it is common knowledge in this town that there are many (not all, but many) offices who discourage anyone in the office from being involved in anything in the greater architectural community of the city, or to attempt to develop their own skills on their own time. Of course, these tend to be the same architects who always work for the same developers or institutions in spite of producing mediocre, if not awful, work. If you’re trying to convince your employees that your crap work is actually good, you wouldn’t want them learning that covering everything in pastel EIFS maybe is not the best design decision.
Are there offices that do encourage and develop talent? Sure there are.
Can I count those offices on one hand and with a couple, am I being pretty liberal about it? Yes, I would be.
Most of the offices in the area appear to do very very little to actually develop talent. Sure there are some good small offices, but those small offices are usually not able to just take on someone because you sent them a resume and appear to be reasonably talented… they are not in a position to just stash away talent and let it develop.
Some of it is also a perception/marketing issue. Many architects in this city do an absolutely terrible job marketing there own work, through both the media and there own websites. Its difficult to develop a positive design culture when no one is aware that there is interesting work being done, if no one knows it exists.
Why do you really think its always the same couple offices winning the AIA Awards every year?
As a result, if you, as a young architect are motivated to continue to develop your own skills as a designer, you have a choice of about 3 offices in the city in which to do that in, and a couple maybes.
I think the question, which I’m dealing with, with my impending graduation is, do you stay and fight the good battle to help develop a better design culture in this city, knowing professionally you have very limited options, or do you move to another city, develop your talents somewhere else, and down the road bring those talents back to Cleveland?