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I'm curious, what are examples of architecture you admire?

hannasanarion 5y ago
I like architecture that isn't covered in dead trees a few months after completion because the idiot billionaire funder doesn't understand that there's no sun on the north side of a building in the northern hemisphere.
- WJW 5y ago
  Plenty of trees grow on the north side of hills though. Not every tree needs full sunlight.
trgn 5y ago
Architecture which does not fetishize the engineering aesthetic, which is mindful of its impact on the public realm, and which does not consider the building-proper as an artistic expression in and of itself. Basically, anything before modernism, before WW1 is generally good. Or really, anything before cars. The rise of car culture and the decline of architecture are directly correlated. I personally had a hard time articulating why I found contemporary architecture so revolting, it was just a feeling. Then I found videos by Leon Krier (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFiYL8AvvnY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFiYL8AvvnY), or Nathan Lewis's blog series on the topic (https://newworldeconomics.com/category/traditional-city-post-heroic-materialism/ https://newworldeconomics.com/category/traditional-city-post...), and everything suddenly just clicked.
- nitrogen 5y ago
  Wow, everything you list as bad is everything I consider good. Nothing is worse for a neighborhood than the tyranny of ordinances requiring homogenized, historic designs. It's a good thing there's more than one building in the world. Everyone should be able to live, work, and design spaces they like, within the local scale (so no 80 floor highrises next to houses if they don't want it, but props to the houses if they do want the highrise). That means you might end up with a glass box next to a pre-WW1 stone box. That's a good thing -- there's no reason a long-passed generation should have the final say in architecture at the expense of the present.

I like architecture that isn't covered in dead trees a few months after completion because the idiot billionaire funder doesn't understand that there's no sun on the north side of a building in the northern hemisphere.

WJW 5y ago
Plenty of trees grow on the north side of hills though. Not every tree needs full sunlight.

trgn 5y ago

Architecture which does not fetishize the engineering aesthetic, which is mindful of its impact on the public realm, and which does not consider the building-proper as an artistic expression in and of itself. Basically, anything before modernism, before WW1 is generally good. Or really, anything before cars. The rise of car culture and the decline of architecture are directly correlated. I personally had a hard time articulating why I found contemporary architecture so revolting, it was just a feeling. Then I found videos by Leon Krier (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFiYL8AvvnY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFiYL8AvvnY), or Nathan Lewis's blog series on the topic (https://newworldeconomics.com/category/traditional-city-post-heroic-materialism/ https://newworldeconomics.com/category/traditional-city-post...), and everything suddenly just clicked.

nitrogen 5y ago
Wow, everything you list as bad is everything I consider good. Nothing is worse for a neighborhood than the tyranny of ordinances requiring homogenized, historic designs. It's a good thing there's more than one building in the world. Everyone should be able to live, work, and design spaces they like, within the local scale (so no 80 floor highrises next to houses if they don't want it, but props to the houses if they do want the highrise). That means you might end up with a glass box next to a pre-WW1 stone box. That's a good thing -- there's no reason a long-passed generation should have the final say in architecture at the expense of the present.