about me
“ Architects believe that not only do they sit at the right hand of God,
but that if God ever gets up, they take the chair”
Karen Moyer
I guess short introduction is going to be useful, since I intend to be eccentric, provocative and to present radical opinions on various matters… So without being too original – my name is Albert. I am an Architect. I live in Toronto, Canada and I am a founder of a design bureau Dezarx (www.dezarx.com).
I’ve been living & studying in different countries, I know perfectly 3 languages & can communicate in other 3. I travel extensively. Since I started to work (about 15 years ago) I’ve been running projects all over the world: Europe, US, Middle East, Canada, Russia, Caribbean… My own design company which I have started in 2008 is concentrated on front-end design jobs on international markets. I like to try different food, listen to authentic music, learn about new cultures… I’m an easy-going guy highly adaptive to any new environment that could be pretty challenging at times.
So I guess you can call me a real cosmopolitan, by the way in our global village it is not such a rare thing anymore.
Primarily I will express my opinion about Architecture, yet I have few other passions, hobbies, interests, babies… whatever you call it. And I won’t be shy to talk about it as well.
First one is Literature. An intellectual engine, a soul of the world. As you can see I play with the writing by myself. Also I read tons of books… I actually even collect them, and have a nice private library. Although (given the beginning of digital readers era) very soon having real books is going to be a funny choice. Just like collecting those vinyl discs. A bit pity, isn’t it? After 500 years or so…
My second “obsession” is Economics. The real engine without any intellectual BS. Whether we like it or not, it’s after all what rules the world nowadays. Politics, wars, sports, culture, science, and the most sacred thing our private comfort – all that is totally dependent on the state of economy. So it would be a shame not to be interested in such a hot topic. In our capitalist life economics is like medieval elixir, a mystical philosophers’ stone. What a sad irony!
(English is not my native language so if you find some fragments to be on the sketchy side, please forgive me or better point it out privately to albert@dezarx.com)
And the last thing. Please provide comments of any kind. Don’t be shy; be assertive and open-minded. I’m not afraid of curse pejorative language or wild contradictions. Be yourself. Push me on the issues. Just don’t become abusive or behave childishly by calling names… Otherwise anything works. Thanks.
Respectfully yours,
Albert
sir-
you have a very large inflated ego.
based on the writing i see on this website it is highly unwarranted.
you style is full of gimmicks and you are the proverbial one trick pony.
a real architect would never write the things you do, i would hate to see your design.
simillar to bon jovi- you give architects a bad name. .
marty pappas-
-lres and sons.
So much for my sincere request of not “calling names”
Although a “proverbial one trick pony” is quite inventively… Link to your nickname is obviously not working. It is so easy to say something unpleasant behind the anonymous web-page. But it’s ok, I am glad you’re not indifferent towards my “gimmicks”. And you spent some time to produce a personal opinion. Thank you. (No irony in my voice…)
Some people would probably remove such message. But I am honest with my audience. No fake votes. No self-comments. No removed or edited opinions.
P.S. Actually I never liked Bon Jovi very much. They are very professional band, cool front man… yet glam-rock is not quite my thing… It is not raw enough.
Albert,
I applaud your honesty and courage for “taking the arrows” for saying what is staring our profession in the face, yet we refuse to see the light….perhaps when history will be kind to this era when mediocrity was the status quo.
Pappas has drunk the “koolaide” of the protectionist technocrats cowering in their ivory tower while their world crumbles around them. Did I call names? If so I do apologize. My point is that our training as architects prepares us to solve problems of varying dimensions and complexity, for that we should be proud. Not everyone is cut out to be a great designer, but it takes more than great design talent to realize superlative design. Our training prepares us for a multitude of roles that support the execution of great projects. It can also service our communities in other realms including process design, industrial design, management consulting….and the list goes on. the point is we have multiple talents and should not be consumed with applying them to execute buildings only.
Pappas is probably from the “grey beard” generation who is seeing contractors, owners and “others” erode their fees and wonder why. Instead of being more efficient and innovative with the services they deliver and the solutions they provide they defend their “title”.
In a few years “Architects” will be dead. There, I said it. It is time we invent what it is we have to offer society and stop bitching about our precious titles, especially when only 5 to 10% of homes in the US are designed by architects (the rest are done by Builders who are drinking our “milkshake”).
I look forward to reading more of your treatise. Stay strong and stay real.
Ryan
Thanks for support, Ryan. It is good to see that you’re not alone. At times it is just hectic to take those poisonous “arrows”. Interestingly, but I also thought that “pappas” is an old fart. Oops… so much for the names calling. (Even though he mentions Bon Jovi; that’s probably was the last band he remembers.)
As for the more serious issues: architects (as this profession was defined in the last… say 500 yrs or so) ARE dead. De-facto. And you briefly yet precisely pointed out why. Don’t know when it is going to happen as de-jure recognition but it doesn’t change the fact that the reality is different. And as it unfolds we are the ones who’s going to rule this world in the next few decades, not “pappas” with their ridiculous ideologies, obsolete titles or primitive business rules.
Cheers. It’s good to have a company.
What an awful comment marty pappas!
Anyway, I like your style Albert, I think it is authentic!
Thanks for best compliment ever…
Albert… thanks for taking my back on the response comment I made on the Gehry building in NY.
I was just having fun… didn’t know people would take is so seriously. Even ArchDaily didn’t like it. Wow, lot of Gehry haters out there.
Architecture is not my business. I’m just a fan.
Doug
Hey, Doug. Well, it is obvious plebs always hates anything outstanding, extraordinary and unusual. An inferiority complex. In architects’ case you can add professional envy. Love that elegant minimalism of your site.
Like a friend once said, “Thanks for best compliment ever.”
this whole website is a chris morris style joke right? it cant be serious, honestly, as anyone been to http://www.dezarx.com. The comment about bas modern architecture would have some merit if it wasn’t then backed up with this nonsense. Still made me bloody laugh though
A comment to die for! That mysterious “chris morris”, that stylish absurdness of a “comment about bas modern architecture” and a good healthy laugh at the end. Everything is anonymous of course.
Thank you, Franz Kafka, for reading my blog from Heaven & letting weirdos to comment on it.
I like your website and agree generally with a lot of the comments about the fate of architects and the state of architecture. Everywhere architecture is being overtaken by nimbler, often less well-thought, technical solutions. Including the emerging field of “Enterprise Architecture”. And everywhere, over time, architects appear to make themselves irrelevant by becoming slow, costly, cumbersome or obstructive.
As an architect of enterprises I’m concerned with the study of the context into which we “land” IT Systems & other solutions. Our experiences like the video of David Byrne you posted are that just like music written to be performed within a specific context may not quite cut it in a different one, enterprises built for a certain context may not quite have the same effect in a different context. An example of this is setting up fast food franchises designed for America’s obsession with the automobile & convenience at any cost in heavily crowded Indian shopping malls designed for pedestrian traffic & smaller discretionary spending on food. Globalization is constantly bringing the conflict between original intent and transplanting & we as architects have the wherewithal to reposition these efforts in new contexts…
It is great to at last have two sides of the story for to long some I mean some architects fail to meet even the most basis levels while others excel!!!!!!
A lot of architects are lazy. Some likes to be abstract, drawing lines here and there, and leave the guessing of specifications and details to the builders; some just like reading a lot of a little about other things ; and some like to throw handfuls of mud at their colleague’s work but at the same time are doing the same muck. Could you write of subjects like this? Because I can’t exactly. I’ve been checking your web page for almost a year now, and it’s getting tedious (after getting your point again and again) because you sound the same. Can you put some twists to your subject without really changing your style? You bet I like your style of satire specially your captions (whenever I’m pissed with the profession I like to visit your page for some laughs). But some facts and practical information written with irony might do more good to your readers.
Thank you, Maria. I highly appreciate your constructive criticism.
Even if I don’t fully understand the specifics you’re talking about, I think I might feel the idea of your remarks. You’re saying: keep your sarcasm and style but… go deeper, be more specific and less abstract, point towards more pragmatic issues, investigate some serious topics…
I promise, I’ll try.
Albert,
though scandalous I love your writing style and bluntness. It’s really nice in this world of conformity where everyone strives to be original which makes it all so unoriginal. Your shocking comments give a completely different perspective and reality . SO thanks! Not that familiar with the world of architecture, though always interested with the field. It fascinates me and that is why I love to follow the issue. By the way , totally jealous of your book library.
I have always found aggressive, insulting comments left on anyones website to be fundamentaly self-serving. They chose to come to your site, you didn’t force them to.
Your ‘About me’ page is straightforward, you want no misunderstandings about you.
Bravo