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Opinion | Evolving world must reject war, look to fearless architects to keep building a better life
- While builders try to organise and advance society in an orderly manner, war disrupts and sets back the effort, often in the name of building a better world
- We should keep building for mutual growth and benefit whether in good times or bad as this is how we move forward
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Why you can trust SCMP
When Russia invaded Ukraine last February, who would have thought that the fighting would still be going on today? Working in a profession that is all about being constructive and providing comfort and safety, architects are inherently against war, which only brings destruction and despair. The stance disregards whether it is a just or unjust war.
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As Ron Hunter – a character in the 1995 film Crimson Tide – said, “the true enemy is war itself”. Meanwhile, George Orwell wrote in 1984, “the essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labour”.
Buildings, infrastructure, transport hubs and networks are such products. In developed societies, we build our worlds and living environments. As basic needs are fulfilled, buildings no longer provide just comfort and safety but also celebrate social stature, cultural identities and civic pride. We build monuments to commemorate glorious moments and iconic figures and extreme structures to express engineering prowess.
In times of war, architectural treasures, heritage sites and cultural landmarks are at the mercy of missiles and bombs. Destroying architecture symbolises the obliteration of a nation’s identity.
The relationship between war and architecture is akin to the polarity of entropy and order. While builders are attempting to organise and advance society in an orderly manner, war disrupts and sets back the effort, often in the name of sovereign identities and building a better world.
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After the war broke out last year, numerous design firms and world-renowned architects stood in solidarity with Ukraine and suspended their projects in Russia regardless of their clients’ stance on the war. The decision might seem irrational, as their Russian clients might not support the invasion, but it was perhaps necessary to guard their image against negative publicity.
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