Architects and designers are too obsessed with being original and should get over their aversion to copying others, according to a new book co-written by Winy Maas of MVRDV.
Called Copy Paste, the book argues that the cult of uniqueness is slowing down innovation.
"Instead of mocking the culture of copycats, design could learn better how to make good fakes," it states.
The Cover of Copy Paste, subtitled "The Badass Architectural Copy Guide"
Maas, co-founder of Dutch architecture studio MVRDV, said architects and designers are suffering from "a kind of syndrome surrounding originality".
"They're required to be original, and if you somehow source something, it counteracts to your originality quota and could harm your career, because clients are in the search of originality," Maas told Dezeen. "That's kind of stupid." Subtitled "The Badass Architectural Copy Guide," the book is published by MVRDV's research institute The Why Factory.
It is co-authored by Maas along with architects and lecturers Felix Madrazo, Adrien Ravon and Diana Ibáñez López.
Spread from Copy Paste pointing out typological similarities between supposedly unique buildings
The book compares architecture unfavourably with science, which progresses via researchers building on the work of others.
This refusal to acknowledge and build on solutions from the past is leading to "a generation that suffers, untethered from history," it states.
It...