Short but sweet

We talk about “living fast and dying young” at the same time as we just get older and older.
Buildings on the other hand have a shorter life span in spite of the idea somewhere that they should exist more or less for ever.
I find some reassurance in this. The idea that monstrosities like The Hearst Tower in New York and the Opera House in Helsinki will probably not outlive me is rather comforting. Development is due to the fact that our reality is changing so fast that we must adapt buildings to it. Actually this is nothing new, it just happens so much faster nowadays.
Commercial interior design has always been synonymous with a short life span. Everyone knows that boutiques aren’t around for long. That is why you can really be audacious and innovative within the field. But in those cases where the life span has been limited within building construction, simultaneously it seems to have paved the way for new ways of thinking. The world’s fairs may well be past their prime in an age that has Second Life, but in architectural history pavilions that only survived one season managed to create a great impression nonetheless. Quite simply because it’s fine to experiment as long as failure doesn’t have any serious consequences.
Simultaneously short-termism has become a swear word, as it is claimed that profit is made at the expense of quality. At least within architecture. In design, durability is however the only way to justify new products. The world’s resources must be conserved. The problem is just that our consumption pattern doesn’t agree. The time is past when people bought a suite of furniture and kept it for the rest of their lives. Now it’s different. Wall coverings, coffee tables and sideboards relieve each other at an ever-increasing speed.
Designers and the rest of us do realize that the most resource-saving alternative would be not to produce anything at all. But if we were to cancel our trips to Ikea and resign ourselves for the rest of our lives to the furniture and that Spisa Ribb service we were given as a graduation present – then what would the hordes of designers who graduate every year do with themselves?

Daniel Golling
Editor-in-chief
daniel.golling@forumaid.com