On Precedent in Architecture

Ahead of our upcoming Spring Event, TAG is pleased to present a recent article by Chairman Mark Wilson Jones titled "On Precedent in Architecture." This article will set the theme for the event, which will include keynote speeches, panel discussions, and conclude with a drinks party.

‘Society attaches great value to originality, discovery, and innovation, not least in areas of technology and medicine with transformative potential to improve life, perhaps for millions. This value, both reputational and monetary, is tied to primacy, especially for acts of creativity that spawn new trends or movements. Where patents, branding and profit are at issue, disputes turn on the temporal primacy of such-and-such an invention, device or song, and the probability it was later copied. In the art world esteem accrues to originators and innovators, but is denied to followers and imitators, while the very existence of forgeries and the effort to which forgers go to disguise their own input underscores the same point. We revere blue-sky thinking and mythologise those talented enough, like Archimedes, to have had due occasion to jump out of the metaphorical idle bath to shout eureka!’

Click here to view the full article.