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Asian Designers Are Schooling American Architects

fastcompany.com — Renowned Asian designers now helm two of the U.S.'s traditionally Eurocentric architecture schools. Here's what they're teaching the new generation of American architects.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jan 6, 2009

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  • never102, on 01/07/2009, -0/+15A cool article about Architects and all we get is a render, a white cube and some dude.

    :(
  • fakekevinrose, on 01/07/2009, -3/+15I'm sorry, but this is an all too human emotion, envy for other's success is not breed into North American culture alone.
    Some people are so quick to jump the gun and assign any negative traits to be explicitly "American" and American alone, while at the same time reserving all other positive traits for anyone outside the American borders.
  • s0m31john, on 01/07/2009, -0/+12Tell me about it. We have an age equivalent 10th grader foreign exchange student from South Korea in my Calc II class.
  • Claverhouse, on 01/07/2009, -3/+15Story: Modern architecture now standing looks like crap; it will be pulled down and replaced by this modern ultra-crap. Then this modern ultra-crap will be pulled down and replaced by super-ultra-crap. Vulgar developers will get rich by continuously razing and rebuilding . End of story.
  • thelif, on 01/07/2009, -1/+11He is one of the slower ones.
  • anteyekon4myst, on 01/06/2009, -12/+22North American culture breeds contempt for those who are too creative.
  • analogkid01, on 01/07/2009, -1/+8They took our jerbs!!
  • bman85, on 01/07/2009, -0/+7What if architecture is your life, and you enjoy it, then it sounds like a pretty good job.

    (Just trying to defend it, as i am in architecture school right now)
  • Gorgamel, on 01/07/2009, -2/+9Buried for forcing the full screen advertising page before getting to the article.
  • solid12345, on 01/07/2009, -1/+7New York is what Paris was in the twenties ... the center of the art world. And we want to be in the center. It’s the greatest place on earth.... I’ve got a lot of friends here and I even brought my own cash.

    - John Lennon

    Seems to me you just refuse to believe America has created and brought creative minds here.
  • 1892, on 01/07/2009, -1/+7me too and i'm asian!
  • inactive, on 01/07/2009, -1/+6I note that both received most of their architecture education in the U.S.
  • Nyaos, on 01/07/2009, -0/+4Coolest thing about visiting parts of Asia such as Tokyo and Hong Kong is amazing urban architecture. You have no idea, until you are actually there. I hope this leads into American development.
  • Swaggy, on 01/07/2009, -4/+7Asia is schooling America in many ways.
  • inactive, on 01/07/2009, -2/+5I think they should Jet them to London fast. The british have the worst taste of design with their old funny looking red brick houses.
  • inactive, on 01/06/2009, -4/+7damn ninjas
  • Bloake, on 01/06/2009, -3/+6Let's get some of those sexy Asian skyscrapers over here!!
  • navk2005, on 01/06/2009, -3/+6as previously noted by digg, ninjas > pirates.
  • choopie911, on 01/07/2009, -0/+3Aren't most foreign architects?
  • Wrangler76, on 01/07/2009, -0/+3And now they're leading it. Quite talented indeed.
  • 2Deluxe, on 01/07/2009, -0/+3That's not so much an issue because Asian glass monoliths actually *make* money instead of begging for it from the government.
  • MOJIRA, on 01/07/2009, -1/+4That's a pretty big generalization. You'll find creativity is encouraged and rewarded massively both socially and financially in most parts of North America (I'm assuming you mostly mean the US, but I apologize if that seems a bit presumptuous).

    Being too creative, you say? Well, what's too creative?
  • poitzort, on 01/07/2009, -2/+4
    "Western architecture as a descendant of the Greco-Roman tradition, which is all about building in stone and erecting things that are intended to last forever."..."Everything has a life cycle, as should buildings," he says. "Preservation is an action in sacrifice of future possibilities. The future needs its own space."

    Because you know, making buildings that don't last is good for the environment. I guess we should immediately stop building buildings that last. Then we can be fashionable because we've adopted an "eastern" architectural philosophy.

    I hear there are some architects in Mexico that really don't like their buildings to last. Have to give them room for the future, of course.

    /s
  • anteyekon4myst, on 01/07/2009, -1/+3Firstly, thanks for the character assassination by labeling me as anti-American. Your ad hominem deflection has no baring on the argument against my point.

    Second, as my moniker suggests I am actually "anti (or anteye)" everything so to speak. Quite often this is refered to as being "The Devil's advocate"

    Third, the issue at hand. Yes, envy is a human trait; however that is a separate issue from the one I am addressing.
  • interrelate, on 01/07/2009, -0/+2The Bird's Nest was designed by a European architect.
  • inactive, on 01/06/2009, -5/+7Architecture is hard work. lots of late hours. no life. no fun.
  • inactive, on 01/07/2009, -1/+2Looks like a waste of time and resources to me. I suspect if the shoe were on the other foot, the headline would be 'Eccentric American Architects'. To each his own I guess.
  • greenvortex, on 01/07/2009, -0/+1No, there are actually more foreign whose jobs have nothing to do with architecture.
  • andrewtheart, on 01/07/2009, -2/+3We're going to see more "Asian <insert profession here> Are Schooling American <insert same profession here>" articles over the next few years... get used to it.
  • inactive, on 01/07/2009, -0/+1All problems would be solved if we just lived under the sea.
  • solid12345, on 01/07/2009, -0/+1No offense to the Asian architects, but at least Western European Architecture didn't require spending thousands of dollars a month to keep glass monoliths clean and spot-free every month.
  • JoeSpaceTime, on 01/07/2009, -0/+1How very dare you! Absolute bollocks.
  • inactive, on 01/07/2009, -0/+1I was gonna say I'm not that advanced only Calc 1 in 11th grade but then again, I had a life as well.
  • lazybuoy, on 01/07/2009, -0/+1The Japanese have to build apartment buildings for families on 300 square feet of land. It's no wonder they lead the world in architectural innovation. Other countries better follow suit because populations are increasing in size but the earth sure isn't.
  • xchrisxsays, on 01/07/2009, -0/+1Where is Howard Roark when you need him!
  • inactive, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1I was referring to the Homer simpson take on this song, you failed, and dragged me down with you. Thanks.

  • TeeLaw, on 03/16/2009, -0/+1WEB deisgner tutorials, freebies http://iniwoo.net
  • stippledtom, on 01/07/2009, -0/+1I'm not familiar with the works of the architects in the article, but the picture of the Sendai clinic looks awfully similar to Zaha Hadid's Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. They should have provided a slideshow to illustrate how these architects are in actuality leading the way.
  • CedEx, on 01/07/2009, -0/+1Well... I know for a fact that Asian parents threaten to kill their offspring for bringing home bad report cards.

    Often, a bad report card accompanies a feather duster beating. That's FACT!
  • inactive, on 01/07/2009, -2/+3The American auto industry should get Japanese people to help them out with design.
  • stklaw, on 01/07/2009, -0/+1"Sour grapes" much?
  • anteyekon4myst, on 01/07/2009, -1/+2I agree with your sentiment. Please, check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY
  • anteyekon4myst, on 01/07/2009, -1/+2You reply to my "generalization" with one of your own. Then, you ask a question that cannot be answered. Please be more specific and elaborate; I am intrigued by what you mean.
  • solid12345, on 01/07/2009, -0/+1*****, only in America can an "artist" get subsidized to do Piss Christ. I guess traditional still-lifes of fruit are just TOO traditional.
  • inactive, on 01/07/2009, -1/+1They look nice, but are they utilitarian?
    Usually the joke is architects are engineers that cant do math!

    The last cool building I saw wa constantly changing and moving... nice, but not very energy efficient is it?!
  • poidh, on 01/07/2009, -3/+3It's almost worth enslaving their entire population and murdering millions of them in camps and through starvation so that they can get those 99.9% literacy rates.
  • thelastcivilian, on 01/07/2009, -1/+1If it means more buildings like the Water Cube (though it doesn't hold its beauty from a distance) and the Bird's Nest stadium (both from the Beijing Olympics), then I'm all for it.
  • jeffkee, on 01/07/2009, -1/+1Duh.
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