there just aren't enough manifesto's these days....

But I found one that I like. It speaks about what Jordan and I were going for in our solar decathlon house in much more blatant and forceful (and intelligent) terms.


http://www.mantownhuman.org/


Go to the Our Position section.

Excerpt:

We believe that a more critical, arrogant, and future-oriented cadre of architects and designers can challenge the new eco-centred, beurocratic, anti-intellectual, fragmentary, localising consensus and in this way can lay the ground rulesfor overcoming the cozy rut in which architecture now finds itself. To do so requires a stance against the prevailing culture of pessimism, so that a new, more exciting, more challenging, more assertive architecture can emerge as part of a more strident society.

We assert the right to experiment with new forms, processes, and materials regardless of their environmental provenance. We fundamentally oppose those who downplay aesthetics in the service of the so-called natural world, but, in the service of the human centered world, we do not to decry the creation of buildings that prioritize utility and functionality irrespective of aesthetic sensibilities. We suggest that architects should dare to fail. Good architecture need not have an ethical dimension. 'Responsible' architecture is safe and seldom 'Good'. 'Good' architecture need not be responsible.