Nostalia for classical architecture
There being a slight nostalgia for classical architecture makes a lot of sense. People look upon the ruins in Rome and Athens and dream of what used to be, great warriors spilling each others blood for entertainment of the masses, pure democracy where every man got to vote on each issue (rip ancient women's rights), and of course all of the beautiful carved marble architecture. However this nostalgia can get in the way of freedom and the advancement of architecture today. A great example of this happened during the Trump presidency and his worrying proposed executive order. The proposed executive order was called "Make Federal Buildings Beautiful Again" and sought to require all new federal buildings to be styled after classical architecture no matter the context or function.While some in the public supported this a lot of architects fought against this and linkedin feeds were swamped with articles of this order going against freedom of design. So should we as a society always go back to this beautiful classical architecture? NO. Because even if some modern architecture is ugly and not well designed, we are still progressing the field and expressing creativity that is needed to keep the human experience interesting.
Nostalgia filtering can be seen in all sorts of media and architecture is sadly not safe from it. Remembering the true beauty of classical architecture? Or is it just thinking there was always beauty?
ReplyDeleteJudgement clouded by nostalgia can be as dangerous as the hubris of believing that we know better than our ancestors. In a similar vein, freedom to do whatever we want is not necessarily good. Decisions made today will have consequences 1,000 years from now. E.g., the space shuttle size was determined because of the roman chariot https://dwanethomas.com/roman-chariots-and-the-space-shuttle/ Whatever we build, good or bad, it will last for a long time.
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