"The Middle Path"...

As an student of Architecture we're taught, and for very good reasons, to question every design solution we may produce. There is a constant push for innovation and I myself find that I'm drawn to some of the more progressive architectural projects which both advance the field of architecture and further the understanding of what it means to be an inhabitant of our constructed world. Some of my favorite Architects and projects include Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House in Illinois...

to more recently Rem Koolhaus's 1995 "Dutch House"...



and whats not to like about his ingenious "Maison a Bordeaux" which features that infamous elevator that is a bookcase / Library...

But for all the progressivity and Architectural achievement going on here I cant help but feel like...none of these places make me feel like I'd want to live there. That isn't to say that there is a very specific client who would just adore living in spaces such as these and real credit has to go to the archtiects for creating such wonderful advancements in architecture all the while creating the home of their client's dreams, but for me, it just doesn't work.

As much as I love these projects I fear I'm most drawn to more traditional spaces, which as an aspiring architect, has me shaking in my boots...If this is whats the best and greatest in the field of architecture, then what does this mean for me, will I ever be able to be as sucessful and influential as these great men?. While I feel at ease designing minimalist spaces, as an architect, whouldn't it be a bit hypocritical to design hyper-modern spaces for clients and live in a more traditional home? Its an odd situation to be in, and it almost makes me feel that unless I choose one path or the other, my aspiring career in architecture will just stagnate into mediocrity. On the one hand I want to be progressive, bold, new and the very zeitgeist of architectural thought, yet on the other hand I just cant seem to get enough of that "ol'timey Greek Colonial clapboard houses which proliferate Cambridge...

this is why I envy interior designers so much. They have the option to choose this "middle path"...sure architects have been known to strike this line between modernity and tradition, but its far less accepted. In architectural circles this sense of "Post-modernism" is often seen as "symbol laden", "superfluous", and downright "retrogressive"...And thats my problem. I find myself drawn to a number of different Architectural styles, different furniture periods, different textures, colours, fabrics, and things, things, things!!! There are days when I just want to call myself an "Artist" and have done with it, give myself the no-holds barred ticket to self-indulgence...