Giovanni Corbellini
Dr. Corbellini’s Pills Tips for architecture beginners
TO MY STUDENTS... BE PATIENT!
Architecture is a discipline with a weak scientific status, which is difficult to frame within any system of deterministic certainty. Unlike other fields, whose basic principles remain constant and reliably transmissible, architecture is doomed to a permanent process of reinvention that produces constitutionally partial, transient, questionable truths. What we consider appropriate and resolved here and now risks becoming boring or false in a different space-time situation. In addition, what seems correct to an architect and to those who share his or her outlook can appear (and does appear) totally amiss to many other colleagues, and it is not possible to establish with certainty who is right. Much of the charm that our profession continues to exert on us and the rest of the world is precisely this instability, this evanescent nebulosity, which forces us to insist on exploring and, at the same time, makes it difficult to classify and organize it into a consolidated and shared knowledge. Despite and because of this elusiveness, architecture shares many points of contact with religion. Edoardo Persico – editor of Casabella in the thirties – claimed that architecture is “the substance of things hoped for”, rephrasing Dante’s definition of faith (who took it from the Bible, Hebrews 11:1). On a more pragmatic level, my mother-in-law, who was very devout, maintained that “even the most atheist of the unbelievers goes to church at least on Easter.” Only through certain behaviours it is possible to become part of a community, sharing its systems of thought, and for the lucky ones who receive their calling, reaching enlightenment (or founding a heretical sect). Here then, in no particular order, are some tips in the form of pills: take them to get in tune with the world of architectural design and make the most of your training in this field. 7
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learn Saying that architecture is learned but not taught may seem the trick of a feckless teacher, but in this statement there’s more than a little truth. There are no reassuring formulas or logical constructions in our discipline that survive attempted transmission. Personal and active involvement along with willingness and the ability to “see� the heart of the project are crucial.
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copy Le Corbusier, who had no lack of ideas, repeatedly claimed he was a “thief:� he drew inspiration from nature as well as from the industry or the work of his colleagues – especially those from the past, but also from his contemporaries. All smart architects constantly observe ancient masterpieces and new buildings, spontaneous structures and mass production... to steal solutions, to assess their potential for further development, or to take completely alternative paths.
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do it yourself Remember that nothing stays impressed on your mind as well as what you have grasped through personal discoveries.
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share As with any success, there’s no satisfaction if you don’t compare (tell, defend, discuss...) your discoveries with others.
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refine your taste Begin attending some “high culture� events. Exhibitions, museums, jazz and classical music concerts... All will help grow your sensibility. An architect whose horizon does not extend beyond Jersey Shore will have difficulty producing anything interesting.
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pollute your taste If you love the classics, in the various fields of art, music and literature, it’s time to take a small tour of popular culture. Jersey Shore could give you some powerful design insights.
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do not talk gibberish Words are important. Handle technical jargon with care (implementation, synergy ...) as well as overly familiar language (cutie, let’s, our, awesome, you know...), the excess of ambition (create, accomplish...), any phrases regularly bashed and abused by architects (multi-polymeta-something, contextual, typo-morphological, compositional...); unprovable, unattainable or phony statements (harmony, beauty, perfection, ecology...). Who speaks badly, thinks badly, and designs worse.
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know your limits Designing is always dramatically complicated, whether it be an ashtray or a city. But there are architectural intentions objectively more complicated than others. Always try to adapt your ambitions to your own abilities.
try to improve yourself If a project is research, each new design opportunity will take you to uncharted waters. Raising the bar a bit higher will help you become more and more skilful.
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beware of side effects Symmetry is usually associated with monuments, selfreferential architecture and symbols of transcendence or authority. Applying it on other occasions is likely to produce unpleasant Freudian slips, with the emergence of swastikas, horns or other zoomorphic, phallic, and yonic appendages that are ridiculous if not disturbing.
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