Losing Touch With Culture?

Zaera’s essay on the architectural envelope had me thinking about how important the distinction of culture and individuality is. Zaera points out that in the modern age of globalization, buildings are becoming more and more standardized throughout regions, solving building problems the same way every time. What’s missing is the distinction of the place and culture that these buildings come from. If you dropped a person next to a streetscape of modern store manufactured building envelopes, they would have a hard time being able to place where they are. I like the idea that Zaera argues that the materiality and tactility with which we design our building envelopes can inform something greater than just a resolution to enclosing the building. It can serve as a reflection of the culture of the place it comes from, the gravity of the function it serves. It reminds me particularly of Jacques Tati’s Playtime (1967) and how every single building in this modernized Paris looks exactly the same. From the drugstore, to an office building, to an apartment complex. Meanwhile the actual cultural monuments that make Paris unique are relegated to reflections in the windows. We see American tourists stare at posters at a travel agency showing the uniqueness of different cultures but all we see is the very same gray box cropping up all over the world. The envelope is an opportunity to be something more, to tell a story.