There’s been a raising trend in most Architecture schools in which students who do well often plagiarise existing works, which often gets them the top grade. Of course for the students who try to be original, this doesn’t always work out unless they’re very lucky. The need for precedents has become compulsory as a means of justifying every design decision, which begs the question: where’s the precedent for that precedent and where’s the precedent for that precedent’s precedent? More importantly, where does the chain end? This is not an article condemning inevitable inspiration from others works, if anything that should be encouraged; however copying a design brick by brick, from plans, sections to elevations with no creative input is what seems to be the issue. It makes one wonder: what is the point in being an architect when the client can simply do the job that you can do; after all even the most incompetent of people can just trace over an existing project. What’s the point in putting thought, time and energy into a design that’s been carefully planned out, when someone else can just trace over your design in a third of the time with minutes to spare to make it more presentable?
Creativity, imagination and a good thought process are no longer necessary. You don’t have to be intelligent to do architecture either, perhaps just a tad bit manipulative. Of course every students circumstances are different and not every outcome for ones decisions are the same; however full on plagiarism is a trend that is growing very successfully and is a mockery to the people who’s designs have been stolen and even that is an understatement.
With an abundance of innovative designs and ideas, you would think students and architects would be inspired to recreate these various ideas or at least come up with new ones; instead it’s an excuse to become lazy and reuse existing works.
Perhaps that’s why becoming an architect takes so many years to qualify, if it was only a three year course: more people would qualify and more people would be an architect. Who knows maybe I’m wrong or at least I hope I’m wrong…
HANA 