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Oh yeah I can totally relate. If you want to dive deeper, follow Twitter accounts like @wrathofgnon or @createstreets. Just be prepared to leave the cozy liber

Oh yeah I can totally relate. If you want to dive deeper, follow Twitter accounts like @wrathofgnon or @createstreets. Just be prepared to leave the cozy liberal bubble of software… the scene is… more diverse. There seems to be a correlation between modernist architecture and liberalism, and vice versa, which to me is so baffling since it is the same people who advocate for modernist buildings who then enjoy their vacations in Venice. On the other hand, advocates of more traditional architecture are correlated (in my observation) with also traditional (non-democratic) power structures and family/gender values, and in parts support alt right topics such as anti-vax/Covid denial up to blatant racism. I had not expected this. What‘s missing, and the article hints at it at the end, is a middle ground: progressive, but based on emotions and beauty. Embedded into local vernacular (which clings to solving problems with local weather patterns and sourcing of local material) rather than international style, and embedded into its surroundings rather than being antithetical. Using low-carbon materials such as wood, stone, straw, or mud, which, when used correctly, show as good (or better) properties regarding air quality and temperature control than high-tech materials based on oil, and air conditioning or hesting systems that require constant use of a power source. And, as importantly, going back to a language that creates cities we actually enjoy, using a human scale, walkable, complex, and beautiful.

TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
It's worth reading the counterpoint - about reactionary "back to the past" architecture in the UK. https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/05/the-royal-dystopia-of-poundbury https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/05/the-royal-dystopia-of... I went to visit Poundbury a few years ago and my reaction was "Seriously?!" It's just as ugly and soulless as the output of the concrete box school. Even the name shows a hilarious absence of self-awareness. The fact that these supposed extremes somehow manage to meet is an interesting clue to what is really going on.\ Edit: to add, another clue is the bizarre absence of gardens and independent greenery. There are some micro-lawns but most of the land is given over to roads or buildings. There is very little integration with nature.
- cmarschner 5y ago
  Very worth reading indeed. Sigh. That makes me even more sad. I had high hopes of Poundbury, and reading that Krier, who has published smart ideas about urban planning, was apologetic towards a super nazi like Speer (and he was, as a new documentary recently reveals) is not forgivable. It seems we only have a choice between the imperialist and aristocrats or the staleness of steel/glass/concrete. There must be a third way.
  - cmarschner 5y ago
    I must correct myself again: Here [1] is an interview with Krier, in German, which paints a very different pucture - that he is rather left-leaning, that he detested the political stream that Speer was part of, but that he was able to distinguish it from his works as city planner. I find that remarkable as it goes beyond what most people are able to. Also, some remarks on the constraints that Dorchester made on the development of Poundbury. [1] https://www.welt.de/kultur/kunst-und-architektur/article154083485/Albert-Speer-Das-war-gute-Architektur.html https://www.welt.de/kultur/kunst-und-architektur/article1540...

TheOtherHobbes 5y ago

It's worth reading the counterpoint - about reactionary "back to the past" architecture in the UK. https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/05/the-royal-dystopia-of-poundbury https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/05/the-royal-dystopia-of... I went to visit Poundbury a few years ago and my reaction was "Seriously?!" It's just as ugly and soulless as the output of the concrete box school. Even the name shows a hilarious absence of self-awareness. The fact that these supposed extremes somehow manage to meet is an interesting clue to what is really going on.\ Edit: to add, another clue is the bizarre absence of gardens and independent greenery. There are some micro-lawns but most of the land is given over to roads or buildings. There is very little integration with nature.

cmarschner 5y ago
Very worth reading indeed. Sigh. That makes me even more sad. I had high hopes of Poundbury, and reading that Krier, who has published smart ideas about urban planning, was apologetic towards a super nazi like Speer (and he was, as a new documentary recently reveals) is not forgivable. It seems we only have a choice between the imperialist and aristocrats or the staleness of steel/glass/concrete. There must be a third way.
- cmarschner 5y ago
  I must correct myself again: Here [1] is an interview with Krier, in German, which paints a very different pucture - that he is rather left-leaning, that he detested the political stream that Speer was part of, but that he was able to distinguish it from his works as city planner. I find that remarkable as it goes beyond what most people are able to. Also, some remarks on the constraints that Dorchester made on the development of Poundbury. [1] https://www.welt.de/kultur/kunst-und-architektur/article154083485/Albert-Speer-Das-war-gute-Architektur.html https://www.welt.de/kultur/kunst-und-architektur/article1540...