No one is asking you to change your likes or dislikes, just consider this ...
In the current issue of
New York Magazine, inside the features section, there is a list of “The Most Influential People” in several disciplines. Under “Architecture & Design,” one of the persons prominently listed is Mr. Stern:
Robert A.M. Stern
Dean, Yale School of Architecture
There will never be another Philip Johnson, but the upper echelons of the architecture world still like a club. Lately, the best approximation has been the Yale School of Architecture, transformed by Stern into a place where Frank Gehry, Peter Eisenman, and Will Bruder teach alongside younger stars like Greg Lynn and Jeanne Gang. Cheerfully offering martinis, and successful enough not to care that few of his guests like his architectural work, Stern is a powerhouse host, one who has shifted the city’s architectural center a little bit to the north.
I shall repeat the phrasing that stands out for me: “… successful enough not to care that few of his guests like his architectural work …”
If you are a seasoned member of the architectural community, you are very aware that much of Stern’s work is controversial – not among clients or fans, of course, but among those who can be broadly grouped under the modernist wing of the profession. I’ve made it crystal clear that I am one of those from the latter group. While Stern's honours are not undeserved, and there is nothing wrong with his craftsmanship, nor his professionalism, it is rather what he represents what concerns us most. That is something akin to a builder of well-made motor cars, but motor cars that continue to have a retro look in every detail. The fact that there are buyers for such transport is not a surprise, but the fear is that the more that they are bought, the more that innovative design may be placed in arrears.
Reed Kroloff, the current Dean of the
Tulane University School of Architecture – also richly honoured by his profession throughout his career – is one of Stern’s harshest critics. Unlike the many who would agree with him in private but won't go public, Kroloff is willing to be quoted. When Robert A. M. Stern was hired to head
Yale’s architecture school, Kroloff, a former "Yalie" himself, and then editor of
Architecture magazine, was famously quoted as saying that Stern was “… a suede-loafered sultan of suburban retrotecture, a Disney party boy.” Back in the age of an emerging, forward looking, North American architecture of the skyscraper, at the turn of the century, was the still looming presence of traditional Beaux Art design from Europe. Taking retroactive liberties, one could call Beaux Art the “retrotecture” of its time. That familar story is instructive: after a brief battle, Beaux Art succeeded in extending its grip on urban architecture for a few more decades, otherwise thwarting progressive architecture at every turn, until another form of architecture came forth, primarily from Europe, that was on a level great enough to eclipse Beaux Art design, and its derivatives.
In recent times, while not nearly as powerful as the Beaux Art movement, Postmodern architecture has similarly retarded the development of its counterpart - modern architecture - especially in the area of skyscrapers. Fortunately, Postmodern is not as prevalent as it was in the 1970s, although it has not died off. Curiously, the man most often credited with applying the word “Postmodern” to a style of architecture, a creator of buildings of that type, and an advocate for the propagation of postmodern buildings, now prefers the title of “modern traditionalist”. That man is none other than Mr. Stern.
