A is for Architecture Podcast Amica Dall: Writing contemporary architecture
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Oct 18, 2021 Amica Dall, a writer, designer, and strategist from the design collective Assemble, delves into the role of language in architecture. She shares insights from her keynote on the complexities of architectural language and its impact on social practice. Amica highlights challenges like consultation fatigue and the need for precise definitions to reinvigorate meaning. Discussing local engagement versus large-scale solutions, she argues for embracing discomfort and vulnerability in architecture, ultimately advocating for a more inclusive and situated approach to design.
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Flattening Effect Of Overused Social Terms
- Common social-practice language ('engagement', 'empowerment') has become a generic bureaucracy that masks power dynamics.
- Overused terms flatten nuance and make meaningful relational work harder to identify and evaluate.
Define Terms Instead Of Swapping Buzzwords
- Rehabilitate tired words by defining them precisely in context, even if that needs a full sentence or paragraph.
- Read across disciplines and teach careful language use instead of swapping buzzwords.
Speech Teaches The Profession
- Talking is the main medium of architecture education, so speech shapes the profession's implicit curriculum.
- Students learn to 'talk like an architect' by imitation, which can propagate lazy, performative language.
