4 ms·
Bauhaus and the Athens Charter movement (Le Corbusier) are, to some extent, legitimate and interesting periods. The problem is that for various historical reas
by stephc_int13 3y ago
Bauhaus and the Athens Charter movement (Le Corbusier) are, to some extent, legitimate and interesting periods.
The problem is that for various historical reasons, mostly related to the second world war and the fast post-war growth the architectural side grew vastly out of proportions.
As a side note, many of the most influential architects of this era were had no formal training in the craft, the tabula rasa approach was quite convenient.
An highly problematic side effect is that the following generation was not properly trained, and they relied on pseudo-philosophical bullshit to obfuscate their lack of architectural skills.
Imitating old architectural styles is rarely a good design, but we lost so much that we'll have to start somewhere.
By the way, this is not the first time it happens in History.
- trgn 3y ago> Imitating old architectural styles is rarely a good design Why? Many college campuses in the US are pastiches of medieval european towns. This admiration for older styles in the late 1800s and early 1900s gave this country (and I'd say, even the world) the most wonderful architectural environments, truly beautiful and harmonious environments. The spiteful iconoclasm of post-WW2 instead gave us the most awful dreck.
- detourdog 3y agoI don't disagree with you at all. The 1900 campus building were most likely a new technique called re-enforced brick masonry. They were produced to match the earlier buildings. The Bauhaus school of thought held the same re-enforced brick masonry techniques could be used to produce the same square footage using less material labor. Post War Europe was in a race to provide resources before everything fell apart again.
- trgn 3y agothanks for added context, got hung up on the "rarely" I guess. Just wished people imitated _more_.
- detourdog 3y agoNew England Colleges have bottled up that sentiment and sell it for $10k a month. The trend I dislike is how everything looks like an airport coffee shop/sports bar. The New England colleges are now trying to look like airport to me.
- trgn 3y agoLol, let me clarify, imitate nice things, not dreck