Hey there! Hold up! Look who's there! Yes yes, Paolo is back. Its been a while. How you doin? Many of you probably do not remember me, I put a few posts at the beginning of this enterprise but since then I have failed to add to my commitment agreement with the ever present Mr Watanabe. I can hear the feverish responses already streaming out, 'who the fuck is this Paolo guy!?!'. Well, i've been traipsing around the northern half of Italy, reconciling with long lost friends and long time enemies, even finding love along the way only to be forced out by a belligerent father who wasn't too pleased, which has thus put me back on the path where i find myself today.
What has happened here people? Whilst ive been away, the media and free press has fallen to the wolves of capitalism, despite having had a few scratches left on him Führer und Reichskanzler Murdoch now holds sway to one of the few past times which engages both my mind, heart and soul.. Motor racing. But put that aside the most beloved of all things, the love of my soul, Architecture (it may as well be called the capitalist implementation of the built form) has gone down the pan, even Zaha has managed to produce buildings now!
As you may or may not now, ive been around a long, long time. Seen things come and go but never have I seen a world go backwards to such a degree as ive been witnessing in the UK these last couple of months or even years. During my time in Italy it is evident for all to see that the place is run by dogs feverishly feeding off the quick dime to be found lying on the street. Avenues that 200 years ago were full of joy and wonder, now are devoid of anything, soulless dank vestibules of modern life. Wake, eat, work, eat, sleep. Buildings that stand as the emblem of the monotony of life. But that is another world, the UK is on of the few places in the 'modern' world where dank social housing was prevalent in the 60's and 70's, as a nation, the UK had sailed that boat and was being propelled by the winds of innovation and modernity towards a new path of redemption, so it seemed.
But hold up, it seems the boat has taken in water because all I see out there is young like minded people being forced out of their profession. There is a fight out there lighting up the skies, in which we are all involved. On one side you have the Architect, a one stop shop for all your building needs, an intelligent artistic being who's only goal in life is to walk past his creation and say 'Ahh, I designed that!' Yet on the other side you have the Client/Contractor. The Murdoch/Berlusconi of the building industry with a mantra of 'pack'em an' stak'em boy's, there's gold in them there hills!'. The later, unfortunately is wining, the architect is no more. Since the day some guy with big ears and a few Palaces dotted around told an innovative forward thinking like minded Architect that 'you cannot build this here, start again!', we lost ourselves. We have been resorted to engage with the powers that be and build whatever makes them happy.
Like the media where the BBC is set to lose its independent liberal mantra to a more capitalist, right wing approach, the world of Architecture is set to lose out to the contractor. Small, enterprising architectural practises that thrive on medium developments are falling by the way side. Young, gifted professionals are losing their chance of putting their heart and minds on paper. A once revered professional has now become the lap dog of the few. Paternoster Square, which sits next to the greatest symbol of Architecture at its best in the UK, is the embodiment of modern day weeling and dealing where the Architect is the one getting whipped and being shafted up the rear.
In much the same way as the architectural world, the right wing capitalist power's that be are getting exactly what they want in forcing the the great BBC institution to cut costs or ultimately lose the license fee, its the beginning of the end for this colossal beast. We have now lost the last remaining world wide sport phenomena, F1 to the capitalist right and in the coming years will lose more and more services and ultimately see an independent media organisation become ITV in drag. We are edging closer to have a media which is run much like it is in Italy, one person with the ability to publicise what he wants when he wants to 60 million people. With all that is going on the only person who is smiling...Rupert Murdoch...
To summarise, I could easily put up a picture of something of Architectural merit but that would miss the point. Architecture is something that stimulates all senses. You touch it, breath it, see it and in many cases taste it. It is a concoction of various stimulates which come togehter to interact with your soul, something pictures sometimes fail to encapculate.
