ABSTRACT
The year or two after college is weirdly challenging, particularly coming from an art school followed by the AA which, at that time, seemed more like an art school than many such. I have been irritated by criticism of this ‘arty’ but creative tradition that comes from Alejandro Zaera-Polo or Patrik Schumacher, exposing their distaste for the magic of the American liberal arts or the British empirical (or ‘let’s see what might happen’) approach. For it creates a social and atmospheric cushion that protects you from the world, which, when taken away, smothers that wonderful feeling of just trying something despite some blunders or indiscretions. Spontaneity is anyhow hampered because you are simply no longer a student. The near-memory of two years in a very straight Bournemouth architects’ office (see p 123) had prepared me to some extent, now bolstered by a special layer of protective arrogance that is the prerogative of the AA graduate. Born of inherited Bloomsbury culture, creative elitism and acquired drive, it suggests to you that in any company you possess a mysterious insight into the finer layers of architecture: authenticated by the roll-call of famous names that have passed through the AA.
