The Architect-Craftsperson

Abstract

The scarcity of craftsmanship in our society is the result of modernist philosophies that celebrate mass production, mechanized industry, exponential economic gain and a corporate/developer-led economy. This relatively recent rupture in thousands of years of human history has led to the loss of generations of valuable knowledge and of an understanding of life stretching beyond material face value. A reconciliation between the traditional values of craftsmanship and contemporary technological advances has been at the core of my practice for over three decades. Here, the need for the “Architect Craftsman” is presented as an alternative approach to the egocentric modernist figure of the “Architect Artist” that has in recent times so widely informed our ways of building.