George J. Efstathiou on Architecture

I’ve been in the profession long enough to see trends come and go and things come back again. Right now, we are starting to see two things; one, buildings that were done in the ‘50s and they are updated a little bit. That other thing that we see for a several years now is the computer and the influence that has on the design of buildings. Twenty or thirty years ago we would draw by hand, we would never think of drawing twisty or curving towers because it was very difficult to do that and the economics were difficult. Things have been better; it is easier now for architects to draw and to dream. Fabricators have used the computer as well in fabrication techniques to make these kinds of dreams more affordable.

If you go back in history in the last thirty five years, you see that there have been economic down terms before. You see that always there is a reconsideration of how developers and everybody use buildings. When you are done with value, you start to reconsider what is really important about a building. We are going through that process right now.

Does Architecture as a profession need empowerment? In which ways should this be done?

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