Who Cares?
is the kind of question asked with two opposing intents: disregard or organizing. There was a time when we cared so much that, one summer almost sixty years ago, we (allegedly) set fire to Rudolph Hall. What about that time in history made people act so radically and what about now makes the student body feel more subdued? We discuss these questions and Who Cares? on the summertime Zoom call taking place over three time zones, twelve hours apart. Why continue Paprika! into its 15th volume when, through visual survey, it historically meets its material function as a texture beneath dust, model debris, and coffee cups?
Caring takes energy many of us choose not to possess, or cannot afford to possess. World events that a decade ago would’ve been culturally defining now seem to disappear instantly into an expanding field of noise. Time is compressed and attention spans are shortened, issues are faraway; the path of least resistance calls to us: let someone do the caring for you, or even determine what is worth caring for. The stress of architectural education, too, shortens our vision towards intense production within our concrete abode. How, then, do we care?
Care starts from an incentive. Triggered by gaps between what is and what ought to be, we are called to care. That care reaches outwards: through a hug, a fight, or a protest; a cry, an essay, or a poem; a map, a talk, or a plan. Architecture, optimistically, is a field defined by care. We seek to understand the systemic intricacies behind spatial issues so that we may improve the lives of those who inhabit it. In this sense, we all care. Yet, a vagueness of care may lead the question of this issue more toward disregard than organizing.
At a school with pluralism as its guiding ethos, we care about many things. Like the carpet it’s named after, Paprika! remains a medium for us to voice our care—a spotlight on the afterhours. In this long and hot summer, we were scattered everywhere. For those who travelled, we asked: what did you care about outside of the structure of the academic curriculum? For those who stayed: what did you notice in the slowness of the New Haven heat? And for those who have come to us for the first time: why?
Welcome to Volume 15 —

With care,
Core Coordinating Editors