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Whatever happened to architecture that is actually good? Boy, if any of the builders from ancient times were around to see some of the monstrosities we've crea

Whatever happened to architecture that is actually good? Boy, if any of the builders from ancient times were around to see some of the monstrosities we've created.

meddlepal 7y ago
> Boy, if any of the builders from ancient times were around to see some of the monstrosities we've created. They would probably be amazed at some of the structures we can create and others they would just shrug at... but the same can be said for structure of their time.
ethbro 7y ago
> Whatever happened to architecture that is actually good? Customers and economics. A king telling an architect to build the greatest church in the world and mass-produced materials being unavailable resulted in some of the great structures of antiquity. Now, you have a corporation asking how a structure can look distinct while being cheap, and you get the stuff we build. Thank god at least for LEED branding, even if it's a compromise.
- epiphanitus 7y ago
  True. I would guess that mechanization and cheap building materials displaced craftspeople in the marketplace. I wonder if there's also a cultural explanation as to why movements like brutalism caught on. Even 50 years ago buildings in the US were a lot more elegant than they are today.
  - ethbro 7y ago
    As an almost architecture major, most architectural styles can be better understood by thinking "What's being rejected?" It's a pretty insular culture (less so farther back, moreso the more modern you get), so essentially everyone knows the recent and current style... and then wants their work to be different. When someone hits something that resonates, that gets copied, becomes the new dominant style, and then the cycle repeats. Modernism (and then brutalism) was a rejection of the florid, nature-themed, complex styles that came before. It was literally "less is more." I'd personally say that the longer a style lasts, the more derivative hacks you get with less talent, claiming to be designing in its name.
Doubl 7y ago
Maybe the good stuff we see surviving is just survival bias? I know that in southern Portugal, today, they have marble floors and keep the shutters closed all day, maybe with Windows open for circulation. Houses are nice and cool

Whatever happened to architecture that is actually good? Boy, if any of the builders from ancient times were around to see some of the monstrosities we've created.

meddlepal 7y ago

> Boy, if any of the builders from ancient times were around to see some of the monstrosities we've created. They would probably be amazed at some of the structures we can create and others they would just shrug at... but the same can be said for structure of their time.

ethbro 7y ago

> Whatever happened to architecture that is actually good? Customers and economics. A king telling an architect to build the greatest church in the world and mass-produced materials being unavailable resulted in some of the great structures of antiquity. Now, you have a corporation asking how a structure can look distinct while being cheap, and you get the stuff we build. Thank god at least for LEED branding, even if it's a compromise.

epiphanitus 7y ago
True. I would guess that mechanization and cheap building materials displaced craftspeople in the marketplace. I wonder if there's also a cultural explanation as to why movements like brutalism caught on. Even 50 years ago buildings in the US were a lot more elegant than they are today.
- ethbro 7y ago
  As an almost architecture major, most architectural styles can be better understood by thinking "What's being rejected?" It's a pretty insular culture (less so farther back, moreso the more modern you get), so essentially everyone knows the recent and current style... and then wants their work to be different. When someone hits something that resonates, that gets copied, becomes the new dominant style, and then the cycle repeats. Modernism (and then brutalism) was a rejection of the florid, nature-themed, complex styles that came before. It was literally "less is more." I'd personally say that the longer a style lasts, the more derivative hacks you get with less talent, claiming to be designing in its name.

Doubl 7y ago

Maybe the good stuff we see surviving is just survival bias? I know that in southern Portugal, today, they have marble floors and keep the shutters closed all day, maybe with Windows open for circulation. Houses are nice and cool