Architecture’s Greatest Lies: What They Don’t Tell You in Design School

Welcome to the Illusion

Architecture school sells a dream the lone genius architect, the breathtaking designs, the power to shape cities. But what if I told you that most of it is a lie? The reality is far messier, filled with corporate interests, profit-driven projects, and the frustrating truth that architects often have less power than we think.

So, let’s strip away the fantasy and expose architecture’s greatest lies from the myth of the starchitect to the illusion of sustainable design.

Lie 1: Architects Shape Cities

We like to think of architects as visionaries who mold skylines, but in reality? Cities are shaped by money, politics, and developers.

Who Actually Decides What Gets Built?

• Developers and Investors: They fund projects, which means they call the shots. Your groundbreaking design? It’ll be value-engineered to fit a budget.

• Zoning Laws & Bureaucracy: What you can build is already pre-determined by laws, restrictions, and red tape.

• The Market: If luxury condos are selling, that’s what gets built. Social housing? Not profitable enough.

o   Case Study: The London Skyline- Architects didn’t decide that London would be filled with glass skyscrapers the real estate market did (Moore, 2019).

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Lie 2: Sustainability is the Future

Sustainability sounds great, but let’s be honest: most of it is greenwashing.

Why “Green” Buildings Aren’t Always Green

• Glass Skyscrapers Are Energy Vampires: Even the ones with “eco-certifications” waste energy on air conditioning and artificial lighting (Gissen, 2018).

• Sustainable Materials? Only If They’re Profitable: Recycled materials are often more expensive, so guess what gets cut first?

• Carbon-Neutral is a Fantasy: No building is truly sustainable unless it stops being built. The greenest building? The one that already exists.

o   Example: The Bosco Verticale (Milan) – Marketed as an eco-friendly vertical forest, but its maintenance costs and high-income residents make it far from a sustainable solution (Mostafavi, 2017).

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Lie 3: The Starchitect is a Genius

Frank Lloyd Wright. Zaha Hadid. Le Corbusier. We’re told great architects shape history, but here’s the truth: most starchitects don’t even design their own buildings.

Who Actually Designs Starchitect Buildings?

• Giant Teams of Underpaid Interns – Most starchitect firms are massive offices where junior designers do all the real work (Till, 2009).

• Engineering Firms & Contractors – The sleek sketches? Just concepts. The real heavy lifting is done by specialists, engineers, and project managers.

• Developers Call the Final Shots – Even the biggest names have to compromise on design if the money says so.

🔹 Case Study: Zaha Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Center – A stunning piece of architecture, but built under exploitative labour conditions something Hadid distanced herself from when questioned about it (Moore, 2016).

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Lie 4: Public Space is for the Public

Cities love to promote “public spaces,” but how public are they really? Many plazas, parks, and pedestrian zones are privately owned, meaning they come with hidden rules, restrictions, and surveillance.

How Public Spaces Aren’t Actually Public

• Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS): Corporate plazas that look open but can legally remove you for sitting too long.

• Gentrification Disguised as Revitalization: When parks and cultural hubs raise property values, they push out the very communities they were meant to serve (Harvey, 2012).

• Surveillance & Control: Security cameras, facial recognition, and police presence mean “public” spaces are often policed spaces.

o   Example: Paternoster Square (London) – A major city square that looks public but is actually private property. Protests? Not allowed.

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Lie 5: Architecture is an Art

Architecture school loves to tell students they’re artists. But once you enter the industry, reality hits, architecture is business.

The Brutal Truth About the Profession

• Clients Have the Final Say: Your design is only as bold as the client allows it to be.

• Competitions Are a Scam: Many young architects waste months designing unpaid competition entries, only to see them go nowhere.

• Pay is (Shockingly) Bad: Long hours, low pay, and the industry’s obsession with “passion” over fair wages (Till, 2009).

o   Example: The Bilbao Effect – The idea that one great building can transform a city economically? A myth. It worked for Bilbao’s Guggenheim, but many cities have failed trying to copy it (Jencks, 2005).

The Real Truth About Architecture

So, what’s left after all these myths are exposed? Reality. And reality isn’t all bad it just means architects need to reclaim their power. Instead of chasing the “starchitect” fantasy or falling for the latest greenwashing trend, we should be:

•  Fighting for ethical, people-first design. 

•  Calling out greenwashing and unsustainable projects. 

•  Redefining public space as truly public. 

 Demanding fair wages and rejecting unpaid competitions.

Because at the end of the day, architecture isn’t about one genius vision it’s about the people who live in and shape our cities every day.

References:

• Gissen, D. (2018). Sustainable architecture's shortcomings. Architectural Design, 88(6), 22–28.

• Harvey, D. (2012). Rebel cities: From the right to the city to the urban revolution. Verso.

• Jencks, C. (2005). The iconic building. Rizzoli.

• Moore, R. (2016). Zaha Hadid: The complete works. Thames & Hudson.

• Moore, R. (2019). London’s skyline and the myth of architectural control. The Guardian.

• Mostafavi, M. (2017). Ecological urbanism. Lars Müller Publishers.

• Till, J. (2009). Architecture depends. MIT Press.

  
  

Image References:

o  Figure1: The London Skyline. [Photograph]. Pinterest. https://i.pinimg.com/736x/8b/96/7e/8b967eb1220f5bf09ca203e8639f76d1.jpg.

o  Figure2: The Bosco Verticale (Milan). [Photograph]. Pinterest. https://i.pinimg.com/736x/33/5c/5f/335c5f320ef4e338e24d52905e9c73a8.jpg.

o  Figure3:  Zaha Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Center. [Photograph]. Pinterest. https://i.pinimg.com/736x/9c/2b/4c/9c2b4cd7e1c70a64f00fda39203db578.jpg.

o  Figure4:  Paternoster Square (London).  [Photograph]. Pinterest. https://i.pinimg.com/736x/d5/68/22/d5682222d46e4dbd19d68b11fd2b7dd1.jpg.