The Process That Changed Architecture

Abstract

Architecture that gets built in a modern democratic society is subjected to the interplay of several different forces reflecting the agendas of political leaders, the investors commissioning the project, the architects as planners and the general public, whereby, of course, the interests of the respective parties differ and each is assigned more or less priority in the confrontation process leading to a final decision. In the case of public cultural institutions and other proposed projects of great interest to the public such as the plan for the redevelopment of The World Trade Center (Ground Zero), architects are, naturally, interested in projecting a favourable public image of themselves and their capabilities. The political protagonists involved in such projects have also recognised this instrument and learned how to score political points with it. Investors strive for maximum commercial exploitation of the available space, and the general public, supported by enhanced technologies of mass cultural cons ciousness formation and manipulation in their heightened readiness nowadays to articulate their preferences and protest against deviations from them, finds a welcome opportunity for agitation.