The following appeared as comments on txamagazine.org in response to Richard Buday’s January/February 2017 story, “Persuasive Architecture.”
Great article, Richard — very timely in our world of emerging technologies. I had the opportunity to talk with Steven Holl a few years ago about some of the issues you eloquently define in your article. Holl stated: “You can’t blame the students. They’re being brainwashed in a way, it’s a silly moment. Architecture is in a silly moment […]. The main things I think about are not available in a parametric program […], but the point of the urgency of teaching a studio is to get back to the fundamentals of scale, of materiality, of place, of time and space, because these things are not being thought of anymore […]. So maybe we are entering a period called “parametric ignorance.”
J. Kevin Story, AIA
Houston
Thank you, Kevin. Holl’s “silly moment” observation is spot on. I’ve been pushing and pursuing computers in architecture for 30+ years — and even anticipated there one day would be a computer-based theory outcome (via an old CADalyst article in the ’90s?) — but at this point in my life, I’m worried. If Parametricism is that outcome, we may have squandered a rare opportunity for reclaiming some of architecture’s lost ground.
Richard Buday, FAIA
Houston
The following comment appeared on txamagazine.org in response to a January/February 2017 story entitled “Workshop in El Paso Connects Artists and Students in Examination of Borders.”
In your articles on El Paso you fail to mention the Texas Tech University College of Architecture at El Paso program. As a prominent Texas architectural publication, I would have hoped that you would know about and promote it. In a recent issue you talk about all of the great developments and projects, but always leave out the program even though you mention UTEP, EPCC, and the TTU School of Medicine. As an alumn[us] of the architecture program in El Paso, I hope to see more support in your future articles. Both Kripa and Mueller are faculty at the College of Architecture at El Paso.
Ismael Olivares
El Paso