Jamie Poole
Untitled
(2012)

This manifesto is the conclusion I have come to after recently been exposed to this exact form of communication to public and professional audiences. An often text based piece of text which conveys to the reader the persons; ideas, emotions, reaction, philosophy and/or theory. The short, compressed expression allows the reader to quickly tell what type of manifesto and/or how strongly they feel about their manifesto it is by the way the writing communicates.

I found frequently that I was could tell if I would dislike the manifesto after a short space of time, but I wasn’t sure why as I sometimes agreed with some of their points. It then struck me whilst reading Will Alsop’s ‘Towards an Architecture of Practical Delight (1993) one of which I found thoroughly refreshing and intriguing.

I found that between the manifestos I disliked and liked there was a clear distinction, although not apparent until the third set. The first category that I will call ‘I believe you have to do this.’ can be summed up with just two manifestos. The first Frank Lloyd Wright’s ‘Organic Architecture’ (1910) stated in the opening sentence, ‘…it is quite impossible to consider the building as one thing, its furnishings another and its setting and environment still another.’
(Wright, 1910) My first impression of Wright is him telling me that something is impossible, and this sets the tone of the Manifesto.

In the same set, Walter Gropius’s ‘Programme of the Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar’ (1919) were he uses the term ‘must’ frequently throughout. It feels like an order, that to achieve what he has achieved you must do this, and I hate being told I can’t do this, or I should do that.

It’s not that I dislike Gropius or Wrights work, but simply the way they express themselves, which I understand, if you want to make an impact in the world, then possible you have to be quite blunt and harsh about your ideas in order to get people to listen.

The second category, I have called ‘I believe you don’t have to do that’ these manifestos suggest no boundaries neither limitations nor restrictions, but simply what you shouldn’t be constrained by. It begins to make you question yourself and everything around you. Without manifestos or visions such as these, the world would not have evolved so rapidly and certainly people would
not feel the need to be pushed beyond what is preconceived. It is also testament to the movements that are born to oppose something, just like the surrealist and modernism, situationists ect.

They include the works of Will Alsop, Philip Johnson and Lebbeus Woods. To me they open up a world for me to explore. Not show me the world they know. They don’t tell you what is acceptable or how things should be done, but offer a palette of which you I can own questions and responses. I feel these types of manifestos will help me grow. Personally, I don’t like to feel constrained, or put in a box, I feel most comfortable, productive and enthusiastic when absolutely anything is possible. New concepts, theories, styles (although this may have possibly been realized in the past) but I liked to find things out myself, then compare and evaluate and reflect.

It is from now that I refuse to be confined on a path, dictated by pre conceived ideas, but walk on the grass, wherever my mind shall take me. Creating freely, in the rawest possible state I know. I will no longer follow, but leave a trail to derail future student architects from this concrete path.