PRE-OFFICE: CAPSTONE CONVERSATION AT STUDIO X

Photo by Ho Kyung LeePhoto by Ho Kyung Lee

Photo by Ho Kyung Lee Photo by Ho Kyung Lee Photo by Ho Kyung Lee Our thanks to Laurie Hawkinson (Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects), Karla Rothstein (SR+T Architects), David Benjamin (The Living), and Soo-in Yang (The Living) for their participation on the panel, to Gavin Browning and Studio X for hosting the event, to KPFF Consulting Engineers for sponsoring the event, and to the audience for their participation in a great conversation.

The topic for the evening was Value in Architecture.  The question of value crosses both objective values (quantitative metrics like operating costs, property values, etc.) and subjective values (levels of control, organization of office, procurement of work strategies such as competition or self-generated projects, and the perceived value of the built environment).

This economic crisis is an architectural crisis.  Perhaps architecture needs to diversify and invest more wisely in the tangible things we produce (or the ways we produce them) in order to better enable the profession to weather a crisis.  How can the architect's productive imagination be put to use in both the boom times and the busts? How can architecture learn to better operate within economic ebbs and flows?