by: Jessica Sheridan Assoc. AIA LEED AP
Postopolis! (l-r): Joseph Grima, Director of Storefront for Art and Architecture; Jill Fehrenbacher from Inhabitat; Dan Hill from City of Sound; and Bryan Finoki of Subtopia.
Kristen Richards
Postopolis! — an international exposition about architecture, urbanism, landscape, and design in the blogosphere — was held at the Storefront for Art and Architecture at the end of May. For five days straight this ad hoc convention featured architects, critics, and educators discussing current design-oriented issues relevant to technology and the Internet. The backbone of the event, however, spotlighted the numerous blogs that “expand the bounds of architectural discussion.” While I am an avid reader of design blogs, coming face to face with the web personalities I have encountered over recent years was bittersweet.
Orchestrated by four blogs — Inhabitat (New York), BLDGBLOG (Los Angeles), Subtopia (San Francisco), and City of Sound (London) — many other bloggers were either in attendance or asked to speak throughout the week as well. What surprised me was that most of the individuals behind the blogs are either recent graduates from architecture schools or writers whose backgrounds have nothing to do with architecture. To some extent this makes sense as blogging is a relatively young medium, and I do not believe that critics need to be professionals in the fields they critique. Also, blogging is an outlet for emerging architects whose ideas are not always considered in the firms for which they work.
The description of Postopolis! on Storefront’s website states that blogging’s “influence now spreads far beyond the Internet to affect museums, institutions, and even higher education.” While this statement doesn’t go as far to say blogs are changing the built world, there is an implication.
I think blogging has the potential to affect architecture and urbanism on a larger scale, but this can only occur with more participation from practitioners actively involved in the profession. Maybe there are more professionals who blog out there but were not included in the convention. I did notice a lack of presence from NY-based institutions (no one from AIANY was asked to speak), and there were a couple of professionals who presented their blogs (Tropolism is one, for example). Maybe the word “blog” has a bad reputation for professionals as there can be an assumption that they are snarky and sarcastic without substance.
Blogging is new enough that this reputation can change. If professionals led an ongoing commentary about their experiences designing, constructing, and developing architecture, landscape, and urbanism, the design field, as well as the public, would be more informed. There is certainly room enough online for a more diverse array of opinions.
If you want to read more about what you missed, City of Sound and BLDGBLOG have extensive coverage of Postopolis! Many of the events are also available on You Tube. Finally, Architect magazine is conducting a survey about what blogs/websites you read. If you want to enter, click here, and don’t forget to vote for e-Oculus!