Architecture being killed by "woke take-over" says Patrik Schumacher

Zaha Hadid Architects principal Patrik Schumacher has waded into architecture's culture wars by claiming that "woke virtue signalling" has destroyed the intellectual rigour of the profession.

Schumacher made his assertions in a paper titled The End of Architecture in the Khōrein journal, which is published by the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory at the University of Belgrade.

"The discipline has self-dissolved"

In the 13,000-word paper, which lists "woke take-over" as one of the keywords, Schumacher argues that the architecture profession has erased itself.

"Architecture, as an autonomous, theory-led discipline, has ceased to exist," he wrote.

"The discipline has self-dissolved, eroding its intellectual and professional autonomy under the pressures of anti-capitalist politicisation and woke virtue signalling."

The architect, who leads UK studio Zaha Hadid Architects, outlined how he believes that architecture has returned "back to a state of mere craft" as it no longer has an intellectual underpinning.

"Architecture, formerly an academic, discourse-steered discipline and innovative, theory-led and research-based profession, has contracted back into a craft, uncritically and unambitiously subjecting itself to pre-ordained routines and typologies," he wrote.

"In effect, the whole apparatus of the academic discipline – architectural university departments, theoretical journals, conferences, biennals, etc. – might as well be shut down."

"It is not only stagnant but positively regressive"

He added that a lack of innovation meant that the majority of buildings designed today could have been designed 100 years ago.

"The bulk of architecture designed in 2024 could have been designed in 1974 or indeed in 1924. It is not only stagnant but positively regressive," he wrote.

"All styles, with the exception of parametricism, are retro-styles: minimalism, neo-modernism, neo-rationalism, neo-classicism, neo-historicism, neo-postmodernism."

Schumacher blamed the death of architecture on a combination of a lack of "rigorous critique" in education as well as in the architectural press.

He also, once again, took aim at the Venice Biennale, which he said did "not show any architecture" in 2023, for having a "politically charged, non-architectural agenda".

"Key contributing factors of architecture's demise include the ascendancy of euphemistic and trivializing checkbox itineraries in professional work, the decline of rigorous critique in academic settings, and the dominance of politically charged, non-architectural agendas in prominent forums like the Venice Biennale," he wrote.

"Impotent virtue signalling"

Schumacher outlined how he believes that architects have lost their focus on architecture and instead are engaged in "impotent virtue signalling" by engaging with "do-good-themes".

"In recent years, the protagonists and organs of the discipline have been refusing to focus their discourse on this societal responsibility and have become increasingly incompetent with respect to architecture's core competency and specialised societal responsibility," he wrote.

"Instead, architecture's leading voices – architects, theoreticians, critics, professors, curators, etc. – are shifting their attention to general 'do-good' themes like social justice, or marginalised communities, i.e., domains where architecture as a discipline has no decision-making powers and next to nothing to offer out of its own resources," he continued.

"What we are left with, therefore, is impotent virtue signalling."

"Criticising student work is increasingly avoided"

Schumacher, who teaches at the Architectural Association in London, believes that universities have stopped pushing forward the development of architecture, with actual design projects being replaced by "woke studies".

"In any event, this apparatus, in its university incarnation, is distracting itself with all manner of woke studies, woke criticism, and woke polemical, artistic-symbolic illustrations standing in for the absent design projects," he wrote.

"It is certainly no longer engaging with the task of discursively steering and innovating the built environment that is actually being realised."

He also took aim at the lack of "frank critique" in the profession.

"While criticising society is all the rage, criticising student work is increasingly avoided, seen as disrespectful and regarded as a feature of a now outmoded toxic culture," he wrote.

"Paper posits the necessity of reasserting architecture's specific social function"

Schumacher, who previously drew attention for his views on architecture's long-hours culture, solutions to the housing crisis and calling for social housing to be scrapped, said the aim of the paper was to encourage architects to reestablish critical discourse and reclaim their agency.

"Although more pessimistic than optimistic for the immediate future, this paper posits the necessity of reasserting architecture's specific social function, of reclaiming agency, and re-establishing its critical discourse to foster innovation aligned with societal progress," he wrote.

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