Almost exactly one year ago I mentioned that Brad Pitt was keen to try his hand at churning out a few door schedules, attending a few community consultations, sending out a few batch plots. you know, being an architect. At the time I pretty much dismissed it as a throw away line. Yeah sure you want to be an architect Brad, so does George Costanza. Wait in line buddy.

However, it seems he was serious. So serious that he did a celebrity internship at a celebrity architects office and is now designing a restaurant and penthouse for a Frank Gehry project in the UK. The Guardian has the full story.

Quoth Brad:

“I’m really into architecture, structure and design. Give me anything and I’ll design it. I’m a bit nutty with it.”

I am inclined to be a little cynical about actors yearning to have real jobs; especially when it involves working for the UN. But fuck it. I think its awesome. We spend our entire careers trying to get people to recognise architects and their trials, attempting to lure obscure Japanese journals and the conservative news press into our light-filled atelier to spread our gospel to the masses. To little or no effect. Brad, on the other hand, has Who magazine, The Sun and every damn tabloid the world over peering over his hedge trying to get a photo of him snogging Ms Jolie. Would it hurt if there were a few copies of GA Houses scattered across a coffee table in the background of a photo catching Brad and Anjelina lying topless next to the pool? No it would not.

Utzon was a ship builder and Borromini a stone-mason before each took up architecture as a vocation and drew some of the best building of their time. While it is easy to see the corelation between craft and architecture; in todays age where craft has been lost and fame is the primary pursuit of architecture, I believe Brad stands more than a sporting chance.