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From: Architexturez-IN <admin-in@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2007 18:24:50 +0530
IT’S hard to pinpoint when the “starchitect” became an object of
ridicule. The term is a favorite of churlish commentators, who use it to
mock architects whose increasingly flamboyant buildings, in their minds,
are more about fashion and money than function.
....
In this new world, no hands are clean; there are good guys and bad guys
on all sides. There are endless cases of architects’ being reduced to
the level of decorator: convenient cultural lubricants whose main
function is to help the public digest increasingly cynical developments.
(The bigger the project and the more money involved, it seems, the more
the architect is treated like a lackey.)
But from the architect’s perspective, working with mainstream developers
is also a chance to step out of the narrow confines of high culture and
have a more direct impact on centers of everyday life that were once
outside their reach, from shopping malls to entire business districts.
cont'd....
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/weekinreview/16ouroussoff.html