For the last several years, conventional wisdom has been gathering behind the idea that the world's most innovative architectural projects would also, increasingly, be among the very biggest. Norman Foster in Moscow. Rem Koolhaas in Beijing. Frank Gehry on Grand Avenue and at the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn.
But a one-two punch from the faltering economy and the credit crisis is threatening to bring XL architecture to its knees, perhaps putting an end to the age of the mega-project before it ever really got going. Gehry will be lucky if his huge projects are built in piecemeal, slimmed-down form. China seems unlikely in the near term to produce a new crop of buildings to rival its 2008 Olympics class. Last week, Bloomberg News reported that Dubai was scrambling to line up fresh loans to keep its building spree from collapsing. If the leading member of the United Arab Emirates is feeling cash-strapped, it's hard to see the picture looking rosy any time soon.
Can hard times be good for architecture? Probably not for individual firms, many of which will struggle to find work and be forced to trim their staffs. But for the profession as a whole? That is a different story. After a decade of infatuation with stars and with a digitally designed future that seemed to promise a sleek condo tower by Lorcan O'Herlihy or Winka Dubbeldam on every block, a period of tight credit could force architects to trade glitz for substance. Or, if that sounds a bit optimistic, at least offer fewer opportunities to thrill millionaire penthouse dwellers with double-height, glass-wrapped living rooms. It is no coincidence that both Metropolis and Architectural Record magazines have special issues out this month focusing on public-interest architecture.
A slowdown may help generate some much-needed new theory as well. Architecture needs fresh faces to play precisely the role that Peter Eisenman, Leon Krier, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown and others did with such success during architecture's last extended slump in the '70s and '80s -- someone to push architects to imagine, identify and define new paths.
