second thoughts

I was delighted to hear from the brunette last night, it was short and precise but definitely what I needed - Thank You. While overcoming my state of despair and listening to Thelonius Monk with a bottle of Corbiere wine, my mobile started vibrating again. I saw the name on the display. I hesitated at first but eventually picked it up. A close friend has decided to cancel their wedding. Such is the shocking nature of the conversation that we ended up discussing the reason of the abrupt decision for the whole night (4 hours of so). The news came as a complete surprise to me. The wedding date was announced months ago, the invites have been sent, the venue booked, the flights bought and the honeymoon finalised. So what happened? Choices. It sucks but it is a common problem in big cities such as London, and I've seen its devastating effect much too often. We are living in a throw-away society. Everything has an expiry date, sell by date, consume by date including love until date. Impatience is widely encouraged, and understanding misunderstood combined with numerous feeble attraction and unsupportive partners and Voila! A great modern relationship cocktail! Shaken and stirred.

It doesn't help the fact that, the main contributing factor is greatly influenced by consumerism. The over-consumption and excessive production of disposable short term products have brainwashed modern society. With vertical integration, repairing products are more expensive than buying a new replacement. With this in mind, of course we treat relationships no different. There is a whole psychology designated to this idea from the 1920's but popularised in the 1950's called Planned Obsolescence. I've read a book titled The Waste Makers by Vance Packard, a cultural critic in the 60's regarding the topic. According to him, there is a 'systematic attempt of business to make us wasteful, debt-ridden, permanently discontented individuals.' There are 2 types of planned obsolescence, obsolescence of desirability and obsolescence of function. The first being the attempts to wear out a product in the owners mind meanwhile the later, introducing new technology to the products thus replacing the old.

Unfortunately, Architecture is also under consumerism attack. For decades, the lure of cheap and theoretical money has produced mass ill-thought developments. These ideal Architecture is interpreted as Architectural form, sponsored by abstract funding, were constructed in the most environmentally wasteful ways and biased sites. What's more, the booming property market masqueraded Real-Estate as Architecture while consumers blindly followed the obsolescence of desirability. As the money flowed copiously, the more excessive the Architectural form became despite the ever growing poverty due to global conflicts. We have become our worse enemy, blinded by all the 'bling' that we forget our ethics and responsibility.

Though I disagree with their actions, I can understand why. Our profession have always been overlooked and underappreciated. Many talents are left unknown without a chance of expressing their vision; any form of acknowledgement is long overdue. Like lust, intoxicated with self indulgence, we were consumed by the consumers. Deep down we desire for more adoration and obsession over exposure, we misapply our energy towards petty designs. During which we no longer have control over our logic and even less in coherent thinking. Hence, a lack of significant innovative design within Architecture. We forgot core issues such as housing, social integration and urban planning - the pedestal of modern movement. Instead, we copied and re-used earlier concepts in a banal attempt to mask our lack of innovation. We hastily launder drawings in CAD, recycle concepts, pasted new materials and present to consumers in glossy presentations. What have we become? A parasitic leech comes to mind.

All these for the sake of fuelling and sustaining the consumer's thirst for variety. Don't get me wrong, choices are needed and welcome because it promotes creativity. But the unnecessary pressure to produce meagre off-the-shelf Architecture, only adds to confusion and discontent.

I know, all these is nothing new in 2010 but remember, we are so used to these marketing ideas that it becomes second nature herein lies the problem affecting our daily lives. As for the friend, the fiancé expired, she wanted variety and the choices are available. And we wonder why we are in the doldrums. Hardly a surprise.