photo by AaltraI bit off more than I can chew this semester. My idealistic streak definitely got the better of me this time. Alas, I'm learning not to complain - we all have our own battles to fight and taking one step at a time does help to ease matters.
I had the privilege of encountering a legendary member of the old guard last Friday night. He had a strong sense of pride - much like TKS though maybe a notch or two less potent which puts him at 'arrogant bugger' rather than 'fu*king cocky bastard'.
For an eighty year old, he had an extremely keen presence of mind and an equally sharp tongue. I had merely planned on discussing what he might like to talk about during his guest lecture – instead, he turned the table around and I unexpectedly found myself being probed and prodded by this ancient giant.
I managed to bat away most of the questions he fielded me, but one particular topic struck home.
“You're in an extremely privileged position Darryl, upper-middle class background. So what do you plan to do after you graduate?”
“Why are you doing architecture?”
“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
The salvo of questions before these touched on Capitalism and how Singapore and money-minded Singaporeans took notice of the World Economic Forum in Davos and were generally oblivious about the World Social Forum in Brazil.
“How exactly can architecture alleviate poverty then?” I disagreed, sensing where the conversation was headed. Beyond the likes of Rural Studio, Cameron Sinclair and Teddy Cruz I didn't see how much more you could do with architecture. “You're over-estimating our worth”, I thought to myself. “You'd probably stand a better chance at generating greater social impact through master planning than architecture.”
I didn't get a straight answer. And I'm still left guessing. “Go read Buckminster Fuller.” was all he said, having been a one-time student and friend of his.
But the damage had already been dealt and I reckon my dad felt the blow as well. He crossed the line when he started messing around with social-economic background. There's no way he would've accepted a reply along the lines of “Be the best architect I can be. Being honest and sincere. Living out God-given purpose till I'm spent.” As much as I disagreed with some of his opinions, I'm still hung over his point about poverty.
Jesus once said,
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:48
I never asked to be born into the family I'm in. Never have I taken the luxuries I enjoy for granted and I am ever truly grateful – they are perhaps one of the main reasons why I whip myself so hard at times - to be worthy, in some pseudo-psychological way. But maybe that's not enough, and that chance meeting will have me search for ways undiscovered as to how this craft might serve the masses, being fully aware of the failings of Modernism on the one hand, and the real danger of having to prostitute myself in the future to money-grubbing developers on the other.
Oh Father, show me the way I am to walk.
