Architecture and Living

In an ideal world every building in the public or residential area would be architecturally designed and have a professional planning involvement that would consider and accommodate every aspect of the project. However we do not live in an ideal world and restrictions apply to nearly every aspect of our daily lives including architecture. Architects and planners do their best to accommodate us in what at times can be difficult projects with very difficult development restrictions and considerations.

Money plays a big part in any project and most architects will admit that this can at times can lead to a conflict of interest between those financing and those designing the project. Unfortunately this can lead to corrupt and totally disastrous decisions being made when really large sums of money are involved, as borne out by some very questionable planning decisions made in the seventies in Ireland. Large sprawling estates with no proper community infrastructures are an obvious example of this. The resulting local community social problems are the legacy of such disastrous planning, and a problem we still live with today.

It can be argued that in the seventies that was just the nature of things and there was little or nothing local bodies or local government could do about it. That was the prevailing culture of the time and mistakes were made as a result. However the opportunity to rectify this does not always present itself every day, and surely this present moment of economic prosperity is one that cannot be let slip past. There are of course some wonderful examples of architectural merit out there, both in the public and private sectors.

Architects and planners alike are doing their best to provide us with well thought out and functional buildings, incorporating aspects like easy access for the disabled and service facilities within these buildings for their specific use. At the same time they are trying to ensure the designs are of some architectural merit. Not always an easy task but there is a marked improvement on what was designed and built in the seventies. Where the measure of success would appear to fall down is in the simple fact that we do not have enough architects and planners to manage all of what is being designed and built in our present economic boom. Unfortunately this does not do anything to improve on what indeed will be our architectural heritage for some generations to come, and will only serve as a testimony to another wonderful opportunity lost to improve what in the end reflects on our culture and architectural endeavour as a nation.