Greater government involvement in design can be an opportunity – if done correctly. That requires architects to be to be at the table from the beginning.
In this time of economic crisis the lines between the public and private sectors are blurring. The federal government is considering nationalizing some banks and bailing out the automakers. And with billions of dollars to be invested in building and infrastructure projects through the stimulus, government involvement in the design world will grow.
Some people may think of the worst public housing projects or schools that look like prisons and be fearful. In many government-funded buildings of the 1960s and 70s, a misguided functionalism led to low-aspiration architecture. Form followed function but it also very obviously followed price. A subsequent reaction to that period led to a view that all government involvement in design is automatically bad news.
But in fact, greater government involvement in design can be an opportunity – if done correctly. That requires architects to be involved and to be at the table from the beginning.
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