Make Architecture Great Again

This is easier said than done and it is an endeavor that is going to take more than a spray tan and a toupee to accomplish. Politics have always played a major role in architecture. It is the main reason we have so many of the beautiful cathedrals that we still enjoy today for example.

The integration of politics and architecture is not always a good thing however and one doesn’t need to look any further than the classic Israeli-Palestinian conflict over Israel to see this. The annexing of the West Bank by Israel and the remote neighborhoods that have popped up since have created an architecture of separation between the two groups. Apartheid roads connect Israeli settlements that are situated on hilltops that overlook the Palestinian inter-valleys. The roofs of the houses in these settlements are red to help airstrikes discern who are friends and who are foes and the houses are strategically placed and open to help survey the landscape. Architecture in this case has become an instrument of war, rather than an instrument of rest and it is all due to the political motivations behind it. Thankfully that is all it can ever be though is an instrument and while this may be what architecture is in this area that does not mean that is what it should be. Architecture should not be an instrument to promote political ideas (I know that this is an incredibly idealistic view) and should not be designed to meet militaristic goals. Architecture should seek to simply be an instrument of living and better the lives of those that inhabit and interacts with it. So how do we Make Architecture Great Again? We simply take the politics out of it.