ECONOMIC ENTROPY   (IN PROGRESS)

As an architect, I witness a side of real estate development and consumer culture that many people never see. Developers and bankers have a language all their own, referring to buildings as "product" and "vehicles for profit." I came to the realization that most of what is built around us today is really not for our use or enjoyment, not to better our lives, but simply to wrangle a dollar from our pocket to feed a proforma. This changed how I fundamentally think about making buildings and pictures.

Begun in early 2008, Economic Entropy is a visual documentation of change in the built environment caused by short-sighted economic methods. Economic Entropy is a depiction of randomness and inevitable deterioration in a social system caused by economic change; It is nature and the objects of consumerism together reaching a state of inert uniformity.

Three subsets of my exploration in Economic Entropy are Whitewashed, Peopleboxes and Bud’s.

Whitewashed is a study of the technique of painting-over to imply or introduce a new beginning. Commercial real estate brokers will often whitewash a building to attempt to erase its previous brand identity.

Peopleboxes is a term used behind the scenes by property developers to describe a commercial building or residence which is unadorned, utilitarian and intended simply to contain people. Peopleboxes are reflections of economic determinism shaping the built environment.

Bud’s is a privately-owned grocery store in the Fountain Square neighborhood of Indianapolis. Unlike corporate franchise grocery stores, Bud’s adapts and reflects the needs of it’s neighbors and patrons. Corporate stores impose ideologies of consumerism - what you should buy, rather than what is needed or wanted.