Manifesto 1 (1934)

Architects design buildings – which is to say that they compose the shape of the future. The discipline we have studied, the engineering skills and practical experience we have gained all demand to be perfected, but negative trends in the economy are having a significant effect on our profession. The potential productiveness of architects is not being exploited enough. Even those of us who are working to full capacity feel that the work we do is not fully satisfying. We face restrictions imposed on the building industry and technical constraints; our professional skills are being wasted. And all this is happening at a time when the need for construction is so strikingly apparent and the mass of the population is being adversely affected […] The reason for the constrictions imposed on our profession lies beyond the limits of our activities as architects: it is rooted in a failure to bring order to the forces that underlie the economy and society, and in the inappropriate way that goods are distributed once they have been produced […] Architects will find their place in the production process, as professionals, once the overall shape of production has been put in order. Only then will they be in a position to design cities, regions and indeed countries, while remaining fully aware of the ultimate end in sight. […]