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	title of this thread your message Not that I have any ambitions in that direction, but I can understand that designers or architects, especially those who know their art well, are tempted to make small detours into the more visible and exposed world of cosmeticism. I have done so myself and yes it has not given me the satisfaction of seeing them used by thousands of people but it gave me a place in the permanent collection of the MoMA and a few other quite places. Yes, as a society we need and generally applaud authenticity and clarity of intention and execution, but we also rejoice in the extravagant, we applaud exuberance and need both the marginals and the risk takers. I have often stated that these contradictions should be guidelines in where we use our talents. So I enjoy extravagant and exuberant graphics because their inherent lifetime is short and unless we are talking important editions, the validity of their message is of the same nature. I enjoy fashion and personal expression in clothing for the same reasons. I do not mind when technology driven products are frivolously designed. We know that technical improvements will soon get the better of them. So I sometimes wonder if some architects should have chosen to be graphic artists or fashion designers, and the same applies to designers. The all important question of what that new architecture might be? Of course we can not introduce a ?market-place? in architecture in which every building could be challenged by a similar one for a better price are a better one for the same price?or a much better one for a higher price. In the first place I think that the division between engineering and architecture has encouraged cosmeticism. As in every division of labour you end up emphasizing the typical aspects of the different parts, including the abuse that could result from it. Architects and designers are in this not different from stock brokers. If architecture is reduced to concerns about how it will look in architectural magazines, it is inevitable that cosmetics will gain in importance. We see the same thing in industrial design. The illusion that ?anything is possible? and basic knowledge of how things are made is no longer required, has started a Sunami of superficial, self satisfying design and every day more of it is produced in the limitless virtual world of attention seekers. My appreciation of Piano?s work is not based on the fact that he is always right. Remember architects do not have the benefit of great public input or discussion. As a society we are willing to live with an environment that is imposed by developers and the chaotic result seems to be experienced as a reasonable facsimile for the diversity we need and want. associated web images (optional) associated web link (optional) your email your password create a forums account \| you forgot your password?