ARCHITECTURE NEEDS MORE CRITICS

By (Name of chapter executive)
(Title)
(Name of Chapter), The American Institute of Architects
(Office phone number)

Should (Name of local paper) hire an architecture critic?

Though it may not seem like the most burning journalistic issue of the day, a new report by the National Arts Journalism Program (NAJP) at Columbia University suggests that (Name of local paper) and other daily newspapers are doing their readers a great disservice by not reporting regularly on the built environment.

Architecture is the "smallest niche of the smallest beat of the smallest department at most newspapers," according to the study, "The Architecture Critic, A Survey of Newspaper Architecture Critics in America," released last month. The report examines how 40 writers, who identified themselves or whose editors marked them as architecture critics, view their roles at their newspapers, their relationships with the profession of architects and builders, and their theoretical influences and aesthetic preferences.

The results are dispiriting to those of us who have devoted our lives to the creation of a better-built environment. The 34-page study found that fewer than 45 of the 140 daily newspapers surveyed have architecture critics, while several major cities, including Houston, Miami, and Detroit, do not have regular architecture features at all. Neither does USA Today, the nation's second-largest newspaper. Lamenting the lack of full-time architecture critics and the paucity of architecture critics in general, the survey calls for a "further investment into architecture criticism, especially in medium-size newspapers and in smaller communities, where some of the most dramatic changes in the built environment are currently taking shape."

The study is important in the way it calls attention to the impact architecture writers have on the public's education about buildings and the need for newspapers to "follow their obligations to cover architecture in a critical way," Blair Kamin, the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune, told the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in an interview for its newsletter. It also underscores the need for more public discourse about architecture.

Most architecture critics are bringing important issues before the public, matters that have an impact on the public realm and quality of life, Kamin said. "The report's conclusions are excellent" and should be "taken to heart" by newspaper editors and publishers, he said.

Are you listening, (Name of local paper or publisher)?

Kamin said it is indisputable that there needs to be more focus on devoting space and resources to architecture criticism. He suggests that the architecture community, including the AIA, should continue to work to educate the public at large about the importance of architecture and to spur action that produces "more writing, more thought, and better buildings."

In the most recent issue of Architectural Record, editor-in-chief Robert Ivy writes, "When it succeeds, criticism informs debate and educates, clarifies the issues and states a position, allowing us to make informed decisions, to be wiser consumers and more ardent and rational proponents for worthwhile efforts."

Ivy points out that, while the architecture profession's clientele is made up of a small percentage of citizens, a much larger number can impact zoning measures, real estate values, long-term planning, and other development issues. "What will become the character of the land above the Boston artery?" he asks. "Should New York build the downtown Guggenheim as proposed, and how will it change downtown? What effect will budget and material challenges have on [Dutch architect] Rem Koolhaus' Seattle library? Can development in San Diego's low-scale neighborhoods escape the inexorable financial pressures that push for greater bulk? An informed public can send ripples through our civilization, since architecture has such an immediate effect on public life," Ivy writes.

There is no shortage of broad themes which architecture critics can—and do—address. Suburban sprawl and "livability" issues, school design that creates safe and engaging learning environments for our children, and energy efficiency in our office buildings are just a few current topics that both require and deserve a knowledgeable citizenry. Here in (name of city), [describe one or more local issues, such as those described above, that call for the talents of an architecture critic to engage and better inform citizens).

Consider critics such as Kamin, Ben Forgey of The Washington Post, Ann Jarmusch of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Robert Campbell of the Boston Globe, and Mary Chandler of the Denver Rocky Mountain News. Not surprisingly, it is in these cities that we see the more passionate and engaging public debate on architecture, and, consequently, some the most exciting design work currently taking place across the USA. On the flip side, daily newspapers in Sacramento, Kansas City, and Des Moines—as well as three of the four daily newspapers in the New York City metropolitan region—do not employ a full-time architecture critic, leaving their citizens with no clear, authoritative voice to guide public discussion of those communities' built environment. Or, as editors of the NAJP ominously put it, "In the absence of public discourse over architecture, control of new construction inevitably falls into the hands of bureaucrats and developers."

The critics surveyed in the NAJP study suggest that editors and publishers - such as those at (Name of local newspaper) - should find creative ways to get architecture in the public discourse. A good start? Heed these critics' advice and hire one.

Copyright 2001 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.