Design is in with the bricks; On the threshold of Architecture

YOU find a book. Perhaps it's been hidden behind the pillar outside your local library or in the roots of a tree in the nearby park. On the cover it says, "Read me." So you do. "We are the mpf and this is our book," it states. "Well, no that's not right. This book was our idea but I don't think it belongs to anyone really We ask that you use this book as your own for a short time, record your surroundings, take photos, sketch a little and write something too At the end of your contribution we ask you leave the book somewhere so that someone else can find it." Then there's an e-mail address which you can use to be kept informed of the book's journey and, at the very back, some stamps in a polythene bag and the address of The Lighthouse, Scotland's architecture and design centre in Glasgow.

Another passage entitled "mpf statement" makes the purpose of this chain-diary clearer. Like an increasing number of art projects, its originators - mpf stands for Missing Presumed Found - want you to look at your built environment in a new manner. "We want to make the subject of architecture more than just about pretty buildings," it says. "More important than Foster's Armadillo and Roger's Dome is how architecture, its issues, events and objects affect our lives and environment. We must widen the debate, taking it outwith our academic institutions and on to the streets."

They are not the first artists from Scotland to engage with architecture in an inquiring and often critical manner. The Heisenberg Foundation arranged parties in wastelands during Glasgow's year as City Of Architecture And Design in 1999 to draw attention to the areas that are ignored when a city decides to spruce itself up. Toby Paterson won the Becks Futures award with his ambiguous critiques of modernist architecture.

There appears to be a spirit, if not of rebellion, then of questioning in the air. Organisations representing the profession of architecture have actually provided a voice for their critics. Heisenberg admitted that the City Of Architecture organisers had been brave to fund them and include them in the official programme. The UK- wide Architecture Week (June 21 to 30) funded by professional organisations and some arts council money has also incorporated potentially dissenting voices.

Mpf, having received backing from The Lighthouse in the past are now organising a treasure hunt for Architecture Week. Mediumism, a London-based group, are attempting to collect images of leisure centres, car parks and high streets in every town in the UK. Jake Ford of Mediumism explains: "It seems to me as if our main streets are looking increasingly similar. There may be quirky and eccentric things which makes a town different but because of the poor quality of design for retail outlets, I feel that is becoming increasingly difficult to see."

And building design is as populist as ever. Programmes such as Changing Rooms, Home Front and Other People's Houses fill the peak time in our TV schedules. New magazines and newspaper supplements devoted to design have risen in number in the last five years. Furthermore, although the UK population is growing only gradually, the trend for solitary living develops apace so more houses are required.

The political climate has also played a part. In the summer of 1997 Tony Blair addressed a gathering of architects and designers at Number 10. "You're the people with the ideas which this government and country needs," he told them. Since then architecture has been an important part of the whole Cool Britannia concept. Even without the very expensive and very public failures which that toe-curling phrase seemed to herald - such as the Dome - the concept was always going to come under close scrutiny. Finding a small exercise book in a tree stump may not seem like an act that is going to change the world but encouraging individuals to not only scrutinise their immediate locale but to comment on it too is the first step to ensuring that the new buildings we, the public, get are the buildings that we, the public, like.

www.architectureweek.co.uk www.missingpresumedfound.com www.mediumism.com

Copyright 2002
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