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A young architect's search for new architectural values in a time of economic crisis.

I paused at the stoop and thought this could be the basis of a good book. The story of a young man who went deep into the bowels of the academy in order to understand architecture and found it had been on his doorstep all along. This had an air of hokeyness about it, but it had been a tough couple of days and I was feeling sentimental about the warm confines of the studio which had unceremoniously discharged me upon the world.-from Down Detour Road

What does it say about the value of architecture that as the world faces economic and ecological crises, unprecedented numbers of architects are out of work? This is the question that confronted architect Eric Cesal as he finished graduate school at the onset of the worst financial meltdown in a generation. Down Detour Road is his journey: one that begins off-course, and ends in a hopeful new vision of architecture. Like many architects of his generation, Cesal confronts a cold reality. Architects may assure each other of their own importance, but society has come to view architecture as a luxury it can do without. For Cesal, this recognition becomes an occasion to rethink architecture and its value from the very core. He argues that the times demand a new architecture, an empowered architecture that is useful and relevant. New architectural values emerge as our cultural values shift: from high risks to safe bets, from strong portfolios to strong communities, and from clean lines to clean energy.This is not a book about how to run a firm or a profession; it doesn't predict the future of architectural form or aesthetics. It is a personal story-and in many ways a generational one: a story that follows its author on a winding detour across the country, around the profession, and into a new architectural reality.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Acknowledgments(p. vii)
• 1 Introduction: Reflections from Detour Road(p. 1)
• 2 The Aimless Architect(p. 7)
• 3 The Case for Empowerment(p. 27)
• 4 Where We Get Power (Kings, Not Sorcerers)(p. 43)
• 5 Camping in the Front Yard(p. 55)
• 6 The Financial Architect (or, A Brief Economic History of Architecture)(p. 59)
• 7 Great Architecture is Like Pulling Teeth(p. 79)
• 8 The Value Architect(p. 83)
• 9 Horse Apples and Cow Pies(p. 97)
• 10 The Risk Architect(p. 101)
• 11 I'm an Architect(p. 115)
• 12 The Paid Architect(p. 119)
• 13 The Best Idea in History(p. 133)
• 14 The Idea Architect(p. 135)
• 15 The Basis of All Things(p. 153)
• 16 The Knowing Architect(p. 157)
• 17 You're an Architect, Aren't You?(p. 171)
• 18 The Named Architect(p. 173)
• 19 How to Become a Famous Architect(p. 185)
• 20 The Citizen Architect(p. 189)
• 21 How to Make a Golf Course "Green"(p. 197)
• 22 The Green Architect(p. 199)
• 23 The Difference between Hookers and Architects(p. 207)
• 24 The Sober Architect (or, A Doctor, a Lawyer, and an Architect Walk into a Bar)(p. 209)
• 25 Epilogue: Finding Love at a Hardware Store(p. 213)
• Notes(p. 223)

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CHOICE Review

Written in part to address the effect of the current economic crisis on architectural practice, this book is one of the most thoughtful and stimulating meditations on architectural practice of the past decade. At the same time, it is the memoir of a deep thinker who laments the superficiality of much architectural training and practice today. With graduate degrees in both architecture and business, Cesal brings a nearly polymath approach to his understanding of what it is to be an architect today. From a business perspective, his use of terms such as "value," "risk," and "cost" reminds readers that architectural practice at its most visible is entrepreneurial. Still, Cesal promotes an essential distinction between good and bad design and seems to cherish the poetic aspects of built form. His view of architecture in its political and social contexts is fresh, terse, and compelling. More philosophical and skeptical than Matthew Frederick's 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School (2007) and considerably more critical but less self-absorbed than Cesar Pelli's Observations for Young Architects (1999), Down Detour Road will challenge the assumptions of most students of architectural design. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and professionals/practitioners. P. Glassman Felician College

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Eric J. Cesal holds master's degrees in business administration, construction management, and architecture from Washington University in St. Louis. He is now living in Port-au-Prince, managing and coordinating Architecture for Humanity's design and reconstruction initiatives in Haiti.