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<\/p>\nIf the streets of Saigon reveal a confidence in Southern Vietnamese modernist architecture, the story does not end there. Behind these buildings lies a deeper shift in how architects think, learn, and respond to their time. Architecture, after all, is never just about form\u2014it is shaped by the age it belongs to. In conversation with Mr. Mel Schenck, this chapter steps back from the streets to look at the intellectual landscape that frames architectural practice today. From historical transitions to the Information Age, it explores how ways of thinking change\u2014and why seeing architecture as a whole, rather than a collection of parts, matters more than ever.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m very interested in young architects today. One thing I didn\u2019t mention earlier is that I taught and led seminar classes for the Huynh Tan Phat Foundation for ten years, which I really enjoyed. The classes usually had about twelve to fifteen students per semester. The students were tested to ensure they had at least a medium level of English. They chose topics, did some research, and prepared PowerPoint presentations.<\/p>\n
Each class, one or two students would give a presentation in English and then answer questions in English. Answering questions in English requires a lot of effort. I understand that very well. I also gave a couple of presentations each semester\u2014one on modernist architecture and one on holistic architecture. That experience was very important to me because I love teaching. I decided long ago not to go into academia because I wanted to practice architecture, something I had wanted to do since I was ten years old.<\/p>\n
Working with the Huynh Tan Phat Foundation gave me the opportunity to teach while still being connected to practice. I love working with students. Whenever a student wants to meet with me to discuss anything, I\u2019m always willing to do so. It\u2019s always interesting because I learn a lot from students as well.<\/p>\n
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My question is: why? Architecture is not a science.
\nThere was a period in the 1970s and 1980s when some architects and architecture professors believed that architecture should become more scientific. They even formed a group called the Scientific Methods Group for Architecture. But it didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
Of course, architects need to understand physics and chemistry to some extent, especially physics. We also need to understand statics and dynamics, and what structural, electrical, and mechanical engineers are doing. Architecture education is broad, and we learn a lot of technical knowledge in school.<\/p>\n
However, the most important course in architecture school is design. That\u2019s what most students want to do\u2014to become designers. Design is not just a product, it is a process. In reality, most architects do not become designers. I was good at management, so I became a manager of the design process throughout my career. But I could still design and influence design decisions.<\/p>\n
My knowledge of science was sufficient for the work I did, and it is sufficient for most architectural work today. If an architect is involved in highly technical projects, such as advanced data centers, there are always consultants who can provide expertise. When professors emphasize science too heavily, I become concerned. It didn\u2019t work in the past, and it won\u2019t work now. Architecture is architecture, and we need to focus on being good architects.<\/p>\n
When I discuss science in my new book, I\u2019m referring to science as it relates to worldview \u2014 how scientific thinking has shaped the Information Age. Science has influenced how we understand reality and how we see the world as a whole. In the Information Age, the intellectual force pushes all disciplines to consider systems and wholes rather than isolated parts. I study scientific and philosophical literature to understand how we arrived at this point.<\/p>\n
Learning new things is important to me. As long as I\u2019m learning, I feel alive. I still enjoy giving presentations to students at universities and foundations. If you ever want me to speak about holistic architecture at the Huynh Tan Phat Foundation, I would be happy to do so.<\/p>\n
There are so many. I\u2019ve got a bookcase here full of them. So I think it\u2019s important for young architects\u2014and they\u2019re probably not learning this right now\u2014but it\u2019s important to understand the context in which society operates. Whether you\u2019re in America or in Vietnam, there is a context in which we operate, and that context right now is the Information Age.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s important to do something that helps give a sense of the Information Age. The book that is primary to me is called The Third Wave by an author named Alvin Toffler, who also wrote a book called Future Shock. The Third Wave explains that there were three major ages in history. In prehistoric times, people didn\u2019t write things down, but history began when people started recording ideas, or at least transmitting them orally.<\/p>\n
The first age, which covers more than half of recorded history, is the Agricultural Age. The Agricultural Age was all about absolutism, and most governments or societies were feudal. There was were kings. There were pharaohs. Governments were not democracies. Religion became the primary force of the Agricultural Age.<\/p>\n
No matter which religion, religion was the dominant force \u2014 here in Vietnam and around the world, especially in Europe with Christianity. Religious leaders, to a large degree, governed societies. They provided morality, laws, the Ten Commandments, and so on. The Agricultural Age had a very clear intellectual force: absolutism, law, and religion.<\/p>\n
When you look at the architecture of that period, you see exactly that. The classical architecture we study is primarily religious \u2014 temples in Greece, temples in Rome, along with some government buildings. Gothic cathedrals throughout Europe were religious structures. So the intellectual force of the Agricultural Age, as expressed through architecture, was religion.<\/p>\n
The Industrial Age disrupted all of that. During the Agricultural Age, people believed \u2014 through religion \u2014 that the sun revolved around the Earth, with God at the center. The sun, the moon, and the planets were thought to revolve around the Earth, kept in motion by God. Everyone believed this; it was their sense of reality.<\/p>\n
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\nBut around 1600, with the beginning of the Renaissance and later the Age of Enlightenment, scientists discovered that the Earth is a planet that revolves around the sun, along with other planets. This realization upset everything. People\u2019s sense of reality changed.<\/p>\n
In the Industrial Age, thinking shifted toward parts. New materials \u2014 eventually reinforced concrete and steel \u2014 emerged and allowed modernism to flourish. Religion became less dominant. Government, industry, companies, and corporations became more important.
\nThen, around 1900, with Einstein\u2019s theories of space-time, everything was disrupted again. We realized that we had to look at things as a whole. Quantum physics introduced extraordinary changes in how reality was understood. This shift led to where we are now, in the Information Age, where the intellectual force pushes us to see things as wholes rather than isolated parts.<\/p>\n
So what was your original question? What do I think is a good book? That\u2019s why I recommend The Third Wave. It defined all of this for me. I already knew much of it, but the book helped confirm what I needed to understand going forward. It has nothing directly to do with architecture, but it helps explain the broader context.<\/p>\n
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