From Monument to Temporary

"Buckminster Fuller… once described New York as a 'continual evolutionary process of evacuations, demolitions, removals, temporarily vacant lots, new installations and repeat.' This process is identical in principle to the rotation of crops in farm acreage - ploughing, planting the new seed, harvesting, ploughing under, and putting in another type of crop."

Alvin Toffler, Future Shock.

Let us build a monument to the death of 'buildings as monuments'!
In the Industrial Age, 'built to last' was the motto.
The building may stand tall forever.
The materials may last a millennium.
Make-up a cosmetic uplift occasionally.
Yet, we've all got to go sometime.

In the Information Age, the question is not if, but when.
Like our physical presence, flexibility will keep us living longer.
An open mind and a supple body, the keys to maintaining a viable architecture.
How are we going to pull this baby down?
What do we do with it then?
Would you commute in a 100 year old aeroplane?


The Future of Architecture Table of Contents
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