Jargon Watch: Locatects

burton street tabernacle photo
Burton Street Tabernacle, Sydney, Australia: A good example of Locatecture

It is an idea we have toyed with on TreeHugger: Collin wrote about the 100 mile bathroom and we have looked at slow design. Now Elizabeth Farrely coins Locatect in the Sydney Morning Herald.

"The "loca-tect" (you see how the language is traduced?) should provide as strong a counterpoint to globalism as does the Locavore. She, or possibly he, would build not only from local skills and materials but in a way that responds to local climate, manifests local memes and embodies local stories."

Why? Partly because of the edifice equivalent of the food-miles argument. (What, architecture-kilometres?) But mainly because that's how you make a culture more than just anonymous global pap."

She also accuses architects of losing its vernacular language, of quoins, groins and springings, its enfilades, ambulatories and pendentives. "These days, though, most practitioners couldn't pronounce bressummer, much less spell it. These days, you're lucky to get a decent spandrel out of your architect. Mostly, it's the dreaded cantilever at best, at worst the joyless mud of autoCAD, project management, aluminium extrusion and precast boring panels." ::Sydney Morning Herald.

More on Locatecture and Slow Design:
Jargon Watch: Slow Design
Bathroom Design Ideas: The 100 Mile Bathroom & Slow Design ...