(March 2004)
“And This Year, The Winner Is……….Somebody Not from the South.” Conspiracy theorists shall remain silent but albeit unintentional or coincidental, the attitude of “Southerners Need not Apply” is all too prevalent within the context of national awards, recognition and individual architectural merit. This is not a recent phenomenon but actually a trend that has become all too familiar within architectural circles.
Mayberry, Gomer Pyle and Dukes of Hazzard were a popular culture celebration of a rural experience that still exists in some southern outposts; however it may be a stereotype still applied to the business and culture of the southeastern United States. It is apparent to this author there is a geographical preference, resulting in geographic prejudice, that has become de rigueur within the annals of national architectural publications, and various national organizations including the American Institute of Architects.
For example, there were 11recipients chosen for the 2003 AIA (American Institute of Architects) Honor Awards for Architecture within the United States; five projects were located in New York, three in California and two in Massachusetts. The only “wildcat” was an architectural project in Oklahoma. Similarly, there were 10 recipients chosen for the 2003 Contract Magazine Annual Interiors Awards. Of these 10 awards, four were projects in California, three in Toronto and one in Chicago. The 2003 ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects) Design Award Committee presented five awards to projects in New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and the remaining three to locales in California. Of the entire lot of 2002 Business Week Architectural Record Awards, Texas was the only “southern” state represented among the winners.
This questionably prejudicial pattern is not relegated just to commercial projects. For example, the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) “Best in American Living Award” presented 11 awards in 2002 of which nine were in California.
The trend towards an exclusive northeastern and western coast presence has been growing over the previous decades. Ten years ago, the Olympics were coming to Atlanta and references to the “New South” were floating throughout cocktail parties and academic discussions alike. As a historical comparison, the annual awards issue of the now defunct Progressive Architecture magazine in January, 1994 featured ten continental U.S. projects, of which six were in California. One juror at the time declared these projects represented “in a cross section the objectives, sensibilities, and the priorities that the profession must adopt for the 1990’s.” Was this juror suggesting that the country’s architectural leadership rests predominantly in one state?
Similarly, a quantitative survey revealed that of the 122 features in Architectural Record in 1993, 51 were found in the Northeast. (For the purpose of this analysis, the Northeast “zone “composed of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.) Combined with the 19 projects featured in California, 51% of the work published came from only two distinct areas of the contiguous 48. Of the 149 projects featured in Progressive Architecture Magazine in 1993, these two regions and surrounding areas were represented by 112 projects. Finally, the AIA Honor awards distinguished 21 projects in 1993. Thirteen winners were in New York, California and Massachusetts. Looking back an additional 20 years, these same Northeast states and California possessed 53% of the projects that graced the pages of the professional journals in 1973.
The reader may now ask, “Why the concern for awards and media coverage?” In many circles of thought, especially academic and high profile architectural firms, national professional journals validate an architect’s work among his professional peers. Secondly, Weld Coxe said, “Publicity is always the result of success, never the cause of it.” It can be argued as to whether or not publicity gets commissions; it certainly helps a firm get in the door. Lastly, recognition by a third party not only begins to establish the architect (or the firm) as quality-oriented, but promotes a stronger image of the architectural community of which it is embedded.
The results of these observations may have several explanations regarding the lack of geographical balance. The 2004 Almanac of Architecture and Design listed the 26 architecture journals and magazines published in the United States. Ten of these publications are based in New York, four are in California, three are in Chicago and six are in Washington DC. The previously mentioned national design organizations (AIA, NAHB, ASLA) are also based in Washington DC. Since it is no secret that most major publishing houses are found in New York, Chicago and California, it does make one question the equitability of the work which is reviewed and ultimately brought to print. Are these jurors selecting work that is truly nationally represented or an amalgamation of several distinct regions?
Should one then propose that there needs to be an “Arkeetektral Rackord” based south of New Yoorrk Ceety ? No, because sheer volume of work could suggest another reason for the lack of southern representation. It is true that the total number of architecture firms based in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia barely equals the number of firms in New York and is only half the number of firms in California. This argument should not be as strong as one would think since the issue is recognition of excellence in design, not gross fee revenue. The argument of building type does appear offer any advantages by region either. For example, traffic circles aside, the only building type in the north that you will not find in the south are road salt storage sheds.
But what is "good" within the world of architecture? Every project program, site, building use and other multifarious design parameters conjoin to produce a superficially different product in every occurrence. The comparative judgment of aesthetic to determine good and bad in a pluralistic world is difficult, not unlike comparing apples and oranges. By assessing the quality (the built-in potential of an object valued by society), whether inferior or superior, one is able to judge the relative goodness or badness of all disparate objects. Perhaps it is the relative paradigm of the critic, of which he cannot be separated from, that determines the perceived merit. A regional jury would, in theory, select regional projects to be considered “good” based on his or her own point of reference.
Finally, perhaps it is the general values and mores of the individual that ultimately determine the architectural work that is created or accepted. It is certainly no secret that the northeast and California are typically more liberal in political leanings than their more conservative neighbors to the south. In fact, the state by state results of the 2000 presidential election paralleled the AIA, ASLA and NAHB Awards previously mentioned. A scientific correlation of these relationships is beyond the scope of this paper, but one could propose that the more liberal minded the voter, perhaps the more liberally accepting of cultural artifacts by the public. This would lead to the acceptance of a more adventurous or unconventional solution to an architectural project in the northeast and west than that found in the south.
There have been a number of “bright spots “on the southern landscape. Ten years ago, a new architectural journal was created with the initial run of Architecture South founded in 1995….but it folded when the editor relocated to take a new position….that was Robert Ivy with Architectural record A brief glimmer of hope of
The AIA National convention was hosted by Atlanta in 1995 and by Charlotte in 2002. TVSA (Thompson Ventulett Stainback & Associates) was the first Southeastern Company to win the coveted AIA Architecture Firm Award in 2002. Finally, Thom Penney, Principal with LS3P Ltd in Charleston and Charlotte just finished his tenure as AIA President. The late Sambo Mockbee, creator of the rural studio with Auburn University was awarded the 2004 AIA Gold Medal posthumously.
It is common knowledge that the design language of so many of the projects that grace the pages of design journals are perhaps analogous to the outrageous clothing seen on Fashion Show Runways: the product is rarely enjoyed or owned by the average citizen. But this does not recuse the national organizations from a failure to acknowledge individual and firm talent.
It is unlikely that the random establishment of a holistic design "vision" will happen without mass hypnosis or a synchronicitous epiphany because there is little that laws and ordinances can do to improve the situation. For example, building codes enforce a minimum standard of design specifically relating to public safety, health and welfare. Zoning ordinances are equally ineffective when determining the specific aesthetic outcome of a new project unless it is to be in municipalities like Hilton Head or Charleston. Besides, more laws are not necessary; only an increased individual desire and responsibility can achieve architectural excellence…with a little help from the public.
A practicing architect is painfully aware of the need for an educated client that truly understands the value of good architecture in order for unbridled creativity to flourish. The client is the puppeteer when testing the project’s design extremes. For developers and owners that are compromised in understanding the value of great architectural works, it will take more than just the rudimentary sandcastle competition to increase the public’s awareness of excellence in architecture and the true value of an architect.
Are there strategies that can be implemented by firms or message that can be absorbed by the public to begin this process of education? Yes. Many. For example, all too often the patrons of southern architecture appear to be looking backward when assessing the value of its architectural contribution. Bookstores are filled with publications paying homage to the ghosts of Christmas Past. This reverence for the South’s architectural history is to be celebrated without restraint. Unfortunately, it seems that the predominant architectural reputation of the south lies only in its architectural history. One can see that communities such as Eufala, Alabama, Jekyll Island Georgia or Charleston, South Carolina have as much charm and presence as Cape May, New Jersey, Bath, Maine or Suffield, Connecticut. Regardless of these treasures, it is the “New” that will catapult the south to a national stage. Publications or monologues of current architectural works in the south would help dispel this image.
The general public needs indoctrination to all things architectural in order to compensate for a lack of architectural appreciation and cultural education in general. For example, there are a number of Traveling Architecture Exhibits that can and should be retained for shows at local museums or galleries. For this to happen, museum curators and even librarians must become more proactive in this population re-education process.
Only a handful of southern communities have newspaper columnists that are devoted to writing about architecture. Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh and Charleston have permanent staff devoted to architecture writing and criticism. So where are the architectural journalists for Greenville, Savannah, Winston-Salem, Nashville, and other southern cities?
Walking tours in historic districts or even custom designed show homes can serve as a passive education strategy for greater architectural awareness. Hands-on discovery of exemplary residential architecture may be most effective when the homeowner, as client, can explain the benefits in relative terms such as quality of life, added home value and successful construction administration.
The effort to promote architecture to the general public is note relegated to the adult contingent. It must be implemented as an integral element of childhood education. Design education and design awareness programs can enhance any pre-k thru 12th grade school program. For example, local architects can supplement the first step by volunteering their time by interaction in local schools. Slide shows of world architecture can be one such simple project to initiate the youth.
Architectural awareness education can be tailored to children of any age and any interest. The exploration of colors, shapes, spaces, mathematics and even American history can be taught using architecture. Designing a Dream House, going on field trips or Neighborhood Walking Tours, studying structures or even exploring Henry David Thoreau’s Walden Pond will stress the importance of architecture, its role in the environment and its improvement to the performance of one’s daily rituals.
As discussed earlier, the south is, generally speaking, populated by a conservative lot. This can be most evident in reviewing the prolific number of architectural solutions in the south that are more contextual in response to the site as opposed to the well published “icons” in the landscape that grace the pages of the design journals. Only when we pull the monuments out of the everyday and elevate them do we get the false impression that there is an architectural superiority that is geographically based. In many cases, the glory of living in the south is augmented by the cohesive amalgamation of the local history, the indigenous archetypes, common materials and traditions. Maybe the architectural experience in the south, especially in rural studies, is bigger than that just the singular building but is a marriage to the life that it inhabits, the lives that it serves and the lifestyle around it.
Nevertheless, until the client base of the southern architect allows greater creative freedom, southern architects could promote the work within the context of the local paradigm and demonstrate the exemplary success of how the design project answers the client’s needs. Some may consider that an apples to oranges comparison, but in its purest definition, architects are first and foremost problem solvers.
With regards to strategies within the world of academia, the college curriculum must be modified to incorporate classes and workshops that explore the practical relationship between the public and the architect. A general understanding of public relations, design marketing strategies and architectural writing all too often take a backseat to the striking visual displays and abstract theses heralded in architectural schools. Needless to say, the design curriculum focus should not be compromised but there must be a better balance as to how future architects are being trained.
Public relations programs and commercials must be more relative to the general public’s interest than the recent 30 second national television spots of juggling clowns. The basic concept is that the general public typically thinks in terms of his or her pocketbook. Therefore the perceived value of good design must also be relayed in monetary terms. Once the appreciation of said enhanced value is acknowledged, the architect will be trusted and subsequently allowed to possess greater design freedom.
The conservative nature of southern clients as well as the “playing it safe” mentality of some architects all too often produces banal and non-descript buildings. For example, Georgian Colonial inspired two story office buildings are the most recent theme of choice in Greenville, South Carolina. This cloning approach to the built environment highlights two issues. One, most southern municipalities do not require an architect’s seal on business use buildings under 5,000 sf and less than three stories. Requiring an architect on these building types could prove to be an integral component to improving the design landscape. Second, repetition of product is efficient but shortsightedly allows the architect’s fees to be disproportionately low. The architect must begin to charge appropriate fees in order to allow adequate design time to be spent on each project. Low balling hurts the profession as a whole as well as stifles the south’s evolution toward a stronger architectural presence.
Finally, it is possible that the focus on a narrow definition of architectural excellence excludes work not normally considered at award time. In a world that is turning more to the past now that an appreciation and genuine understanding of historic preservation is taking hold, perhaps the celebration of restoration and renovation could be more pronounced. Greenville South Carolina, for example, was awarded the Great American Main Street Award last year.
It is irrefutable that the South has long been ignored or even shunned by the elitist and at times arrogant neighbors to the north and west. With the influx of “immigrants” from the north that are rapidly moving south, perhaps the word will resonate within the architectural cauldrons of Gotham and the West Coast that the South has much to offer in terms of architectural excellence.
The business leader and homeowner alike will continue to impact the architectural development of the south. It will take a devoted effort by community leaders, architects and architecture schools to educate the public as to the value of good design, as well as breaking down antiquated stereotypes and misconception of what the South has to offer to the world.
Therefore, the prime directive to architecture students, architects, columnists and business leaders is simple: promote Southern Architecture. Professionals and lay citizens may be locally aware of the “New South” but it will take extra effort by all professionals to send this message to the rest of the country.
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