BACKYARD, 2011
My thesis project sprang forth from an intense debate about architectural criticism that occurred in the blogsphere in November 2010. Peter Kelly, of Blueprint Magazine, had published an article lamenting the lack of rigorous architectural criticism online. He specifically called out Geoff Manaugh, author of BLDGBLOG, for “speculative musings and celebrat[ing] increasingly niche interests”. Manaugh wrote a swift (if rambling) rebuttal on his website, agreeing in principle with Kelly that there should be more architectural criticism on the web, but that it wasn’t his job to write it. If Kelly was so concerned with the state of architectural criticism, Manaugh wrote, he should be writing it himself.
As an avid reader of BLDGBLOG and other popular design websites, I saw both sides of the story. Of late, I too had felt that the constant stream of articles whose basic premise was “Isn’t this cool?” had become exhausting and no longer interesting. But I didn’t know where to turn online to find the kind of journalistic, investigative architectural criticism that Kelly and others were searching for. I decided to attempt to create the kind of site that was missing.
I began my thesis research. I quickly realized that there were many areas of research that I’d have to cover, including recent trends in technology, a survey of existing architecture and design websites, and an overview of important critics and publications in the past and present.
In reading many writers’ takes on architectural criticism, it became clear that a desire for local reportage existed, especially after a decade or so of following starchitects around the globe. All but one of the top 40 architecture and design websites are international in their coverage (with the exception of the AIA website). I agreed with this consensus; I knew where to look if I wanted to read about Rem Koolhaas’ latest project – but where could I look if I wanted to read about the condo going up down the street? I decided to focus the website close to home: Canada. While Canada is large geographically, it is small demographically. Culture and customs influence design, so although ‘local’ would imply Toronto, I felt that what occurs in other parts of Canada have bearing here, and vice versa. In order to understand the Canadian context better, I mapped the Canadian design scene over the past two centuries. Through research and experience, I realized that no one really talks about Canadian architecture – not in school, and not in other publications. My website would attempt to correct this.
I feel that the research portion of my thesis was ultimately the strongest and most insightful part of this work. The website proposal was less successful. However, the research and first attempt at designing the website provide an excellent base on which to start if I decide to launch the site in the future.