To begin with, I would like to say that revolutionary advances in construction and information technologies, opening up space for the most sophisticated ideas of architects, has created a new era in modern architecture, which includes a set of directions, movements, and styles.
You know, architecture bears a lot of questions in itself. Architects are unique and intellectually developed. They help society to see the world differently. The real architect can produce such an effect that one and the same thing can have new rhythms, patterns, relations, and connections. The aim of the architect is to invite and teach the auditory to think and act differently.
Nowadays, there are a lot of concepts and theories concerning architecture. In such works as Disappearance and Distribution written by Brett Steel and Storytelling written by Mark Wigley, the modern scholars and teachers of design describe their ideas and their attitude to some aspects of architecture. These two authors have a great influence on the development of architecture and they have written some articles on the theory and practice of architecture.
Mark Wigley is a co-founder of Volume Magazine, and he tries to produce this magazine in a form of conversation. That is something like a triangular partnership: a school, an office, and a magazine.
In his work Storytelling, Mark Wigley writes that “I think it is useful to consider architectural theory as a kind of storytelling. It seems to me that’s what architectural theorists do, they tell stories about architecture” (Wigley 2009, 82). And he adds that “Architecture is only ever discoursed about building. Every action, every seemingly humble operation of architectural practice has to be understood in this way. All architects are trained to tell stories. What we do in schools of architecture is to teach people how to stand beside a bunch of representations of a project and tell a credible story” (Wigley 2009, 83).
Wigley explains that the aim of architects is not only to create a new project but to demonstrate and represent it in a particular way.
Further on, this idea may be picked up by another scholar Brett Steel. In his work Disappearance and Distribution, he offers his theory. He calls the architect “Machinic Interface” (Steele 2003, 422). He explains who the architect is. He explains that an architect is “a managerial figure whose “creative” job it is to initialize and then control the development of preordained, highly personal, design “ideas” (Steele 2003, 422).
He is surprised a lot by the development of modern technologies because they have a great impact on architecture. He points out that “the architect’s studio has been reconfigured into a new kind of work environment, both virtual and actual” (Steele 423). He is not satisfied with the fact that an architect becomes “a cyborg” (Steele 434). Modern digital technologies dominate an actual architect.
Both scholars believe that architecture is an important part of history and such opinion must stay during all times. As Wigley adds that “to interrogate and rethink past formations is itself a form of action, one that has a number of unpredictable effects on the actions of others” (Wigley 2009, 94).
To cap it all I would like to say that Brett Steel and Mark Wigley proposed their theories which are very interesting, creative, and useful for those who consider architecture as the essential part of their lives.
References
Steele, Brett. “Disappearance and Distribution: The Architect as Machinic Interface”. Hunch 6/7: 109 Provisional Attempts to Address Six Simple And Hard Questions About What Architects Do Today And Where Their Profession Might Go Tomorrow. Rotterdam, 2003.
Wigley, Mark. “Volume 20: Storytelling”, Archis+GSAPP+AMO, 2009.