QUESTION No. 1:
HOW MANY ARCHITECTS DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE A LIGHTBULB?
Here’s another question: What does a tired 50-year-old “joke” have to do with anything? Especially architecture. That’s a good question, if you asked it.
Maybe you remember a time before social media, when making fun of people involved more than an anonymous tweet. You had to be inventive, and telling jokes was foolproof – like the lightbulb riddles, originally designed to poke “fun” at (i.e., victimize) minority groups:
Q: How many writers (e.g.) does it take to change a light bulb?
A: (typically) It takes three – one to hold the bulb and two to turn the ladder.
Did I mention that these riddles were lame? And yet, they were oddly popular. Then, sometime in the ‘70s, just as they started to fade, they did a U-turn and directed their ridicule at those who were previously telling the joke, i.e., the smart alecs who thought they were immune from victimization – professional groups, for example:
Q: How many psychotherapists does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: One – but the bulb has to want to change.
The jokes weren’t getting funnier. They were getting sharper. Now they were targeting soft spots, like professional clichés. This brings us to back the architect joke, which is, incidentally, one of the very few jokes that is really about architects1
Q: How many architects does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Why would you want a lightbulb there?
There you have it: architecture in a nutshell. It’s not side-splitting, LOL or ROFL, and not really a joke at all (especially since I’m about to try to explain it, which is something you should never have to do with a joke), but it is a glimpse into the architectural psyche. Can you see the truth buried in this absurd scenario? A simple question has been asked, and instead of offering a simple answer, the respondent – the architect – asks a question. Not any question, but a question that questions the first question. An architect, faced with a mundane task, has found it necessary to complicate things by looking deeper. Your question is a simple one, but maybe it’s not the right question.
To summarize:
Q: Is it really true that one of the architect’s main contributions is to ask questions?
A: Yes. Architecture isn’t just about providing solutions to standard problems; it’s about seeking out possibilities that depend on questions that have yet to be asked.
Postscript: If you’re not an architect, you might still consider answering questions with more questions. It can be annoying at times, but it makes you appear thoughtful, and it gives you more time to think of an actual answer.
NOTE:
1. OK, since you asked, the other joke goes like this: An engineer is close to the front of an infinitely long lineup at the Pearly Gates, waiting to get into Heaven. A figure strides past with a white construction hat and a roll of drawings, heads straight for the Gates and walks right into Paradise. The engineer is miffed. Cutting around the line, he approaches St. Peter: “What makes architects so special? How come they get into heaven just like that, and the rest of us have to wait our turn?”
“No, no, no,” chuckles St. Peter. “That’s not an architect. It’s God. He just pretends to be an architect.”