Constitution

We are working on it.  It took the founding fathers four months to write the U.S. Constitution and it will probably take us twice as long since we have less people writing it. Below is a working draft of our Constitution:

1. Architecture IS FUN

Lawyers have the stress of making sure justice is served, doctors are responsible for saving lives every day, we get to draw whatever we imagine and spend lots and lots of other people’s money. It is the primary principal of this site to never take ourselves too serious and to always remember that architecture is supposed to be fun.

2. Pay It Forward & Don’t Sell Out

Critique This will always offer its services for free with minimal advertisements. The purpose of this site is to generate change, not money. Money generated by the site will go towards research for future articles, supporting existing charities and developing new charities that meet architectural needs in the global community that go unmet.

3. Critique

The critique is the most valuable tool that the architect has. Architects unlike other professions have the ability to solve almost any problem due to the requirement that architects be exceptional problem solvers. The ability to think critically and actively critique our environments and objects in them gives architects the ability to understand why something does or does not work and how to fix it. Why it works is not as important, because their are plenty of people that can calculate airflow or structural loads, but there are few who can create architecture. Critique This will always maintain the critique as the primary format of all articles and posts. Opinion and personal preferences shall at the very least be supported by critical thought, research and analysis.

4. Architecture is Built not Rendered

Architecture cannot exist in the computer. Although Critique This is a digital resource, make no mistake, it is one of the cornerstone beliefs of the Critique This site that architecture must be built. Renderings and complicated 3D models may be interesting to view, but are NOT architecture, and should not be the focus of the architectural discourse of this or any other site that claims to discuss architecture.

5. Design Never Stops

Design exists in every phase of the architectural project: conceptual, schematic, design development, construction documents and most importantly construction administration. Design never stops and all architects regardless of the phase that they participate in must view their role as designer. The designer is the defender of the design parti, which will hopefully become architecture. Many great schematic designs have become built disasters because the project team fails to realize that detail design and construction administration design are just as important as schematic design. The rendering or sketch is the vision and the rest of the project team must protect that vision. The idea that architectural design is a team sport and takes place in every design phase is evident in the structure of the site.  Unlike other sites, Critique This will focus on all phases of design, not just schematic.