Architectural Centre Manifesto

Creator: The Architectural Centre is a voluntary organisation of architects, artists, designers and the like with an interest in the built environment in Wellington, New Zealand. They formed in 1946 with the aim of creating a manifesto, although nothing was completed or published. This one was completed on the 60th anniversary of the organisation in 2006.

Purpose: The general aim is to improve the urban environment in Wellington, New Zealand.

Manifesto

The Architectural Centre: Manifesto for Architecture

1. Architecture must be better than what it replaces. (Fresh air is better than some buildings)
2. Architecture relies on intelligent government. (Mindless bureaucracy will only create mindless architecture)
3. Architecture needs an assertive public. (Architecture will only thrive if the public demands this)
4. Urban Environments must be planned (but not only by planners)
5. Recycle Architecture; Good architecture is elegant environmentalism (Continued human existence relies on having planet earth in our future: ditto for the next planet)
6. Architecture must facilitate better living. (The delights of good design – light, warmth and pleasure etc – must be cherished)
7. Bad building must be eliminated. (Wellington is too important for soulless buildings; buildings designed heartlessly for profit are not architecture)
8. Architecture must be celebrated. (New architecture is our future heritage)
9. Architecture has an obligation to challenge (Controversy has a positive role in architecture)

Sources

Architectural Centre Inc: http://architecture.org.nz/about/

Image: Geoff McDonald, Walter Read Reserve, Oxford Street, Sydney