In the field of Architecture, there are those who do it for humanity and then there are those who do it for selfish reasons, trying to design their own Fallingwater (Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece in Bear Run, Pennsylvania for the Kaufmann Family).

There is a movie called the Westsider, a short film by filmaker Charles Doran about a young man in his twenties who recently received a masters degree in architecture, works and lives in the westside of the Los Angeles basin. His ambition is to be the next Frank Gehry who he is obsessed with his work. Soon he realized that he would not do any work unless it’s in the westside which he defines the area that is west of the 405 freeway and tells his coworkers.

When he tells employers of the firm about it, he was fire, forcing him to move and live in which the movie describes the “pits of hell”, the San Fernando Valley. It’s funny once you see the trailer.

The thing about Frank Gehry’s work, which is to be admired, is the body of his work doesn’t cover clients who are not wealthy enough to hire him. Back when Frank Gehry gave a lecture to students at UCLA in the late eighties, one the students in the audience ask why he didn’t accept a prospective client who wanted to hire him to his home in Westwood. His answer was that his work would not command those kind of fees.

That was the most disappointing remark by an architect who is well-known and commands attention. It’s such a cop-out when the roles of architects today are misguided. They hold no responsibility in their profession.

Architects from the past, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright (two of the most influential architects in the twentieth century), did work for low to medium income housing (Unite d’Habitation & Usonian houses). They know that social structure was changing with the influx of immigrants and the need for housing. Their awareness was not to ignore the problems that are needed but to embrace it as a challenge.

There should be more designers and architecture who brave the notion of responsibility and care when they take certain jobs, rather than self-promotion.

Song of the Blog: Are You Alright? by Lucinda Williams from the CD West