Classical Architecture: What is it all about?

Classical architecture is very exciting the more I've learned about it during my life. It is also alive and well, with a plethora of contemporary classical Architects designing and constructing new classical buildings.  However, some have misconceptions that classicism is a superficial style or it is just about columns and ornamented pediments. Let me clear up the confusion as I've come to understand it. 

A detail of a classical arcade and groin-vaulted ceiling. Photograph of the interior of the neoclassical Philadelphia Mint building. 

Classical architecture is not just about columns and sculpture. It is not about the superficial at all. Classical buildings can be made without those elements and still be classical. 

My illustration of one of the most famous classical complexes: the temples of the Acropolis in Athens Greece. Imagine climbing up the Acropolis and walking through the sequence of spaces and how those moments would set the mood for seeing one of Ancient Athens most sacred temples - the Parthenon  - for the first time. 

Classical architecture is all about the thing signified and the thing which gives it significance. It is motivated by the ideal that architecture's primary goal is a beneficial effect on the user of the space: by elevating that person's mental health, pleasure, and empowerment. This stems from the governing concept of democracy and rule by the empowered population instead of the elite. 

Two different interpretations of classical design. 

Above, my own facade design for a temple to democracy using proportions based on Palladio's descriptions in his Four Books on Architecture. 

Below, my light study model using those same principles. 

Classicism gives you the tools to achieve these goals in design, such as with proportions and the relation of voids and masses. Everything else, all the decorations, is frosting on the cake that simply amplifies that original guiding concept. 

If you want to learn more, the ICAA offers a bunch of great free classes online that you can use to get familiar with classical architecture and traditional building in general, as well as intensive workshops during the year. In addition to classic books like Vitruvius and Palladio, Perrault also offers useful descriptions of Architecture. His diagrams of the five orders, for example, became staples for architecture education for 300 years. Additionally, a variety of schools in the US and abroad offer programs that specialize in classical design and traditional building for you to explore. 

Architectural Concensus: What is Acceptable Design?

Recently,  someone asked what the general consensus in architecture is about style.

Here are my thoughts:

First, there is no general consensus nor should there be one: who has the right to say what can and can not be designed? The design police? 

 Architecture is first and foremost about sculpting our experience of space, on the verge between light and silence. Style is an added layer of refinement. Could a modern day architect successfully build a breathtaking and genuine architecture and use the classical style? Absolutely! Could a modern day architect do the same in a post modernist style? Absolutely. The choice exists and that diversity in architectural expression ought to be celebrated. 

The problem is when these things become imitations and not emulations, decorated sheds instead genuine architectural experiences.

Case in point: Comparing a real courtyard with a building branded as "courtyard."

 And this is a problem that afflicts the whole spectrum of design. I've seen designs trying to be brutalist but they end up with "brutalist light," trying to be Wright but end up "Wrightish," trying to be international modern but ending up "moderny." 

To answer your question, the McMansion problem is really a problem of a meme/cartoon of a building type, instead of a genuine design, trying to pass as architecture. It has nothing to do with the style in which the building gets built. That is a separate issue entirely.

Studying Neighborhoods in Philadelphia

 For this studio project, I will be investigating the neighborhoods of West Kensington, Manayunk, and Rittenhouse in the city of Philadelphia with the goal of identifying equities and inequities across these areas. 

On Wednesday, I conducted my first site visit by walking through a portion of the West Kensington neighborhood and recording my findings in the following maps and charts. West Kensington is a majority Latino and specifically Puerto Rican neighborhood. The City Data website has some good introductory statistics for your prevue. 

Above is a sampling of some of the photographs I captured during my site visit on Wednesday September 15, 2021. These images demonstrate the range of conditions encountered on site. 

Below, you can explore the interactive map that I created, focusing on the areas of:

• Green Space (intentional such as public parks and playgrounds and unintentional such as empty and vacant lots that include a mix of local citizen's upkeep and neglect).
• Housing (including highlighting areas of high and low density and the effects of urban decay)
• Upkeep (my catch all for what some call urban blight - places in need of repair or maintenance as well as places actively being constructed. For example, abandoned buildings with broken windows, trash dumps, and unfinished new construction projects in progress)  
• Stores (including typology, a local corner store is different from an ethnic store which is different from a big box chain store or strip mall)
• Services (this includes things like community centers, schools, hospitals, libraries, and the like).
• Art (This includes public murals and sculptures, but also artfully composed graffiti - different from simple mono-line graffiti tags which I categorized as upkeep.)  

Additionally, I explored several other layers of interest:

• Homelessness (evidence of homeless encampments)
• Transportation (SEPTA bus stations in this example)
• Sensory Information (in one area a rooster was crowing, another the bark on some trees was peeling in a beautiful display, and in another area a delivery man was cursing out some drivers at the top of his lungs for several minutes. The drivers joined the cacophony with their horns).  

I believe that these factors indicate factors that influence the quality of life for residents in a neighborhood in general. These factors are also easy to observe, quantify, and compare across neighborhoods. I am looking forward to exploring the next neighborhood in my sequence next week to begin drawing those comparisons. 

Here are some preliminary charts that I created as I begin to organize and understand the data that I collected. 

My conclusions are as follows: West Kensington is a neighborhood of highs and lows. Some areas, such as the Taller Community Center and the shopping area indicated on the map are attractive places to visit with proud expressions of Latino culture and a vibrant community spirit. Other areas are struggling. There are also marked differences in density between the high density row house areas indicated in brown on the map and the very low density areas where lone row houses beaten and neglected stand as ghost islands surrounded by the "missing teeth" of vacant lots littered with trash, tires, and bombed out cars. And amidst these extremes there are a plethora of people who take pride in their neighborhood: they raise chickens and roosters, they decorate their cars with Puerto Rican memorabilia, and they put home made tire planters outside filled with herbs and flowers. Here school children play outside and relaxing covered courtyards can be found where unseen voices speak jovially in Spanish.    

Roof Detail Examples

Here are some examples of my hand drafting skills showing different roof details. On the left, I have illustrated an example Flat Roof Assembly. On the right, I've detailed a Low Slope Roof Assembly.

 

Different Buildings, Different Cultures, Same Story

Revealing a Secret Agenda to Claim Power

The Case Study of San Marco and The Sultan Ahmed “Blue” Mosque

William Ross

April 26, 2021 

The Church of San Marco in Florence, Italy and the Sultan Ahmed I Mosque (commonly referred to as the Blue Mosque), in Istanbul, Turkey are separated by vast distances in geography and differences in culture. Both their patrons, however, used local events to achieve the same goal: they both covertly maneuver themselves into positions of centrality and importance. In Europe, the elite were in the midst of a rediscovery of antiquity and Cosimo de’Medici, the de facto leader of Florence, took advantage of this situation to guarantee himself and his family power. Meanwhile, the Ottoman empire, under the new leadership of Sultan Ahmed I, was in the process of erasing the past and asserting it’s own identity. Upon arriving to each building, both San Marco and the Blue Mosque take the user on a rich visual journey of religious icons in space that allude to the power and dominance of their respective patrons. These patrons were able to achieve this end by employing capable designers. Ultimately, both the patrons of San Marco and the Blue Mosque had secret agendas: they used strategically placed and culturally relevant religious structures imbued with a convincing visual journey of art and architecture to claim dominance and influence over their respective populations.

San Marco in Florence and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul emerged from different social contexts. The Blue Mosque emerged from an Islamic environment that emphasized the importance of public religious space. This space could be divided into essential elements which can be observed across mosque design: the street market, the landscape, and the courtyard and can likewise be observed in the Blue Mosque. However, these elements all share something in common: they are accessible and usable for all citizens. Unlike the Blue Mosque, San Marco was built in a Roman Catholic context that deemed some religious space off limits. The public utility of the church was separated from the private cloister belonging to the monks. This essential difference shaped the way each building project was approached by their power hungry patrons.

 During the quattrocento, Florence was at the heart of the Italian Renaissance - a movement that brought humanism and the pursuit of classical knowledge to the forefront of popular thought and education in elite circles. However, ancient treatises were often dispersed and difficult to acquire during this time. In order to position himself in the center of this movement and thereby exercise control, Cosimo de’Medici invented a brilliant idea: he would create and therefore regulate access to a library that magnetically pulled the great thinkers of the Renaissance into his sphere of influence while using the monastery of San Marco as a cover to deceive the general public about his activities. It is important to note that the Observant Dominicans housed at San Marco placed no emphasis on humanism or antiquity and that while they were tasked with maintaining Cosimo’s library, they had absolutely no control over contents of the collection. At the same time, they bore the sole responsibility of finding and replacing any book that was lost within a year. In addition to all that, the secular humanist scholars who visited the collection needed to walk through the Observant Dominican’s private cloisters and up a narrow staircase hidden behind the kitchen to reach the second floor library - an activity they took part in on a regular basis. All this indicates that Cosimo de’Medici was using San Marco to covertly increase his power.       

Across the Mediterranean, just as the Quattrocento was beginning, the Byzantine capital of Christian Constantinople had fallen to the Ottomans and was renamed Istanbul. However, the now Muslim city continued to live in the architectural shadow of Byzantine accomplishments. One of the most envied structures was the Hagia Sophia, a Byzantine Church that had been converted to a Mosque. Despite these efforts of cultural appropriation, the awareness of their enemy’s impressive architectural legacy lingered on in the writings of the Ottoman Sultans. The Sultan Ahmed I was a young boy when he became Sultan. While he had no major accomplishments of his own, he was determined “…to build a mosque that would…leave Hagia Sophia behind with its glory.” This is evident from the new skyline created by the Blue Mosque, constructed in the heart of Istanbul, from the sea as shown.

It is important to note that the Blue Mosque’s location and architectural features all indicate a direct affront against the Byzantine past by claiming an importance that surpasses the Hagia Sophia. The site of the Blue Mosque was known as the Hippodrome during the Byzantine period and is centrally located in the city. In order to change the theme of this locus from Christian to Muslim, and by extension from Byzantine to Ottoman, Sultan Ahmed I acquired that site for the Blue Mosque project and demolished the existing buildings at great expense. Interestingly, while Hagia Sophia has four minarets that were added after the Ottoman conquest, much like many Mosques of the time, the Blue Mosque has an additional two minarets for a total of six. The Hagia Sophia has an immense, pendantive dome and semi domes, and so does the Blue Mosque. It is almost as if the Ottomans were trying to prove that they could do everything the Byzantines did, but better. The additional minarets, the critical location, and the use of the massive pendantive dome all emphasize the grandness and therefore central importance of the Blue Mosque.            

Upon arriving to each building, both San Marco and the Blue Mosque take the user through a rich
visual journey that alludes to the power and dominance of their respective patron. They both accomplished this aim by employing experienced designers. Cosimo de’Medici employed Fra Angelico, an accomplished narrative mural painter who also belonged to the Dominican Order, to
illustrate the walls of the San Marco library. His murals were viewed by the visiting humanist scholars along

the path shown by the red arrows in the plans of San Marco. In these works, Fra Angelico paints biblical scenes with hidden messages that allude to the Medici’s important status. For example, the patron saints of Cosimo’s sons are depicted in the paintings. More directly, Cosimo’s status as a member of the secret fraternity of the Magi is illustrated by this final painting on the humanists journey into the library: “The users of the library who saw the Adoration in Cosimo’s cell could easily make similar conclusions about his relationship to an image of the Magi: he was portrayed as the benefactor of wise men, patron of San Marco, and leader of his city.” Clearly, Cosimo was making a statement about his own status, power, and influence that his users, the humanist scholars, would easily understand and respect.

Sultan Ahmed I achieved a similar vision by also employing an experienced designer. He hired Sedefkar Mehmed Aga, the 21 year apprentice and foreman of the famous architect Mimar Sinan, to design and build his Blue mosque. The blue Iznik and Kutahya tilework that decorates the interior, which is also the source of the Blue Mosque moniker, serves much the same function that the paintings of Fra Angelico served for the Medici. While Muslim aniconism limits the decorations to abstract forms, these abstractions could easily be understood and interpreted by those using the mosque at the time. For example, the tile work shown from the blue mosque suggests a floral design, which in turn suggests “life, growth and immortality.”

 This was understood as alluding to the four gardens, or stages, of enlightenment the Salek, or wiseman, experiences: the self, heart, soul, and essence. The blue color was suggestive of the Ottoman Sultans and Sultan Ahmed I in particular. In this way, much like Medici the interior decorations of the Blue Mosque indicates that Sultan Ahmed is the benefactor of wise men, is patron of Istanbul, and leader of his empire.

This paper has revealed that the patrons of San Marco in Florence, Italy and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey both used strategically placed religious structures to secretly assert dominance and influence. The patrons of each building were ultimately able to achieve this end by employing capable designers. This is observed in the user experience of the visitors to San Marco and the Blue Mosque. Ultimately, the patrons of these buildings responded to very different key events of their time in order to covertly maneuver themselves into positions of centrality and dominance.

 

Aside: Top Global Health Issues Today

 Here are the top three, but often overlooked, global health issues:

Vaccine Safety and VAERS

Vaccines have become a standard component of mainstream public health in most countries. However, as with all medicine, there are always risks of adverse acute and chronic reactions to vaccines in a variety of populations. These damages to health are reported using the VAERS system in the U.S. Unlike all other medicines, however, the risks intrinsic to vaccines are downplayed to the point of being ignored. Some, despite a variety of evidence, even claim that vaccines are the only medicine ever discovered to have no adverse effects whatsoever. This willful neglect about disclosing the side effects and risks of vaccines to the public, like what is required for every other medicine, is compounded by the fact that, unlike other medicines, the companies that manufacture vaccines have absolutely no liability and can never be sued directly. Instead, when these companies are sued, the tax payer pays the bill. This lack of accountability makes Vaccine manufacturers immune from the damage or harm they don't disclose and then cause, creating a dangerous, zero accountability, environment for public health. Now with Covid-19, and the vaccines that have been rushed for emergency use approval, this lack of accountability and informed consent is only getting worse.

Water Fluoridation

There are a variety of stances on whether or not water fluoridation is good for, bad for, or irrelevant to tooth health. However, by fluoridating municipal water supplies often without much media coverage or any public disclosures, cities around the world are removing many people's ability to make their own health choices for their own bodies regarding whether or not they want fluoridation treatment. Indeed, since when did the government become the doctor? Since when does it make sense to continuously treat the entire population - from infants to the elderly - with the same medical substance - whatever it may be? Even vaccines, the only other ubiquitous public treatment, are administered at key intervals of age over a person's life, and yes, vaccines are only administered by a doctor. Water fluoridation tablets should be available for free for those who want them, but municipal water supplies should get out of the healthcare industry and stop blanket-treating our water with fluoride.   

Air Quality

Air quality around the world varies dramatically. However, smog, ozone, and particulates cause disease and death in many urban, especially industrial, centers today. This often overlooked public health problem is both ubiquitous and dire, and must be addressed. Some possible solutions include designating urban areas that are bike / walk only, designing walkable neighborhoods, and providing stronger environmental controls to regulate exhaust from cars and factories.  

Comparing Precedents: Two Towers from Two Cultures

To create something new, we must look back. Both of the following buildings take advantage of different contexts and functions to deliver very different archetypal architecture that are both used as precedents in a slew of contemporary designs today. 

 

Coalesce: Moving from Division to Unity

 For this studio project, I developed the following design based on community needs and collaboration with Power Corps PHL - an AmeriCorps program that provides jobs and skills training to young adults in need. Take a look at my board below: 

Here is my video presentation, showcasing a walkthrough of the computer model I developed for this project:

Below, you can see some preliminary design work for this project:

Understanding Andrea Palladio's Architecture

 

Leon Battista Alberti & The Ten Books of Architecture, Poster

 

Memorializing 2020, Competition Board

 

Architecture of the Athenaeum

PHILADELPHIA’S LUXURIOUS LIBRARY

Photograph taken by the author on October 3, 2019

The Athenaeum of Philadelphia

219 South 6th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106

William Ross

December 4, 2019

Abstract:

The Athenaeum of Philadelphia is a membership-based private library that was created in 1814 in order to provide access and storage for useful information. The process of selecting and modifying the design and construction of the Athenaeum’s building, completed in 1847, is a historical example of successfully navigating between cost-effectiveness and fashionable aesthetics in architecture within the larger context of relevant historical events and precedents. For this research, scholarly publications were reviewed and compared. An interview and building tour was also conducted with the Athenaeum’s Curator of Architecture on this subject. This paper will explore how economics, other institutions, personal connections, design precedents, and innovations culminated in the Athenaeum building that exists today. This paper offers a deeper understanding about the origins of the Athenaeum building that may enrich the reader’s knowledge base should he or she encounter similar projects in the future.

New Project: Four Hours In, Renderings

Today, I started working on this project: I am designing a row house that will fit between two existing row houses that are 18 feet apart with a depth of 40 feet to work with.

This is what I have been able to develop over the last four hours today, and I'm curious what input others might have. Take a look:

Exteriors:

North Facing Street View 

(There are extant buildings on either side of this lot that will share party walls. Brick is a local cheap material that will help keep costs down while matching the existing building fabric)

The Problems with Modernism

Walking from class today, I noticed more new buildings pretending to be row houses - yet I could conceive of nothing more haphazard and uninviting. These poor buildings had been clothed in corrugated metal with windows of various dimensions strewn about along the surface. For all I know, a blind man designed it - but it was built! Can we do better than this?

New housing on Olive Street in Philadelphia, PA. An entire street of existing 19th Century brick row houses in need of minor to moderate renovations was completely demolished and replaced with this new development. (Source: Google Maps)

Across the country, during these dark and trying times, a possible light shines forth: Bernie Sanders is running for president. He certainly would be a welcome antithesis to the deceptive and cruel Trump regime and corporate Democrats. Unlike in 2016, he continues to collect endorsements and has already reached a record number of donations. Most interestingly, among his many positive and beneficial programs set forth is the plan to build lots of housing for the poor of this country as part of his Green New Deal. 

What will that housing look like? I fear it could all too easily look just as ghastly as the buildings I passed after class the other day. It was with a sinking feeling of helplessness that I repented the medieval times we live in. Then it occurred to me that, perhaps, I can offer an alternative. 

There are many problems with this current architecture and the trials of our age are many. However bleak the era, though, I refuse to submit to the impoverished and destitute philosophies of this age with its' soulless architecture and art. On the cusp of a new decade and according to many - poised between disaster and success - I will outline the problems I see with the current "Modernism" paradigm and its' debilitating effects on the prospects of this generation and civic pride. 

First - to be clear - "Modernism" is not the same as "Modern," although some deceptive modernists do try to confuse the distinction. For example:

If I have an old house:

• MODERN means to renovate and update the house so it is conducive to modern life, with all the functional amenities like indoor plumbing, electric, heating, engineering, and the like. 

• MODERNIST means to bulldoze the house and replace it with a steel, glass, and concrete cage. 

Through the preceding example we arrive at our first and most important conclusion: "Modern" is purely concerned with improving the function of a building, essentially without altering its' style. Alternatively, "Modernism" is the exact opposite in that it is purely an impoverished aesthetic. The false claim "form follows function" is a laudable illusion, likely promulgated by an insidious propaganda machine. 

Dear future reader, I hope for your sake something has changed. I pray that you still have the great buildings of the past to draw inspiration from. No doubt the Modernists will do their best to destroy some of the greatest buildings of our ancestors - just like they have already done in many places around the world over the last century. 

Likewise, if climate change is indeed the threat it is posited to be, the Modernist style is the most wasteful and dangerous style of building that could be employed. 

Glass buildings, at what ever scale, are essentially green houses. Back in 1851, Joseph Paxton could have gotten away with his "Crystal Palace," a temporary shelter for the Great Exposition. However, then as now, these buildings do exactly what green houses do: trap heat. During the spring, summer, and autumn months, they would be rendered entirely useless without cheap and plentiful energy to air condition and cool them. Their use of glass is inherently wasteful and ensures much more energy is lost than would otherwise be needed. In some ways this is criminal. 

Idealized interior representation of Paxton's 1851 crystal palace. Paxton was a green house designer. Eye witness accounts complained of the incredible heat and the unsightliness of maintenance crews covering the glass roof with canvass sheets to deflect the sun. (Source: V&A Archives)   

Next, let us examine steel. Steel is produced in large factories producing tons of fine particles and other harmful substances dangerous to human life. We need only look back at the steel mills of Pittsburgh and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania from the last century to fully understand the problem this artificial material poses. During the 19th century, these cities existed in eternal winters, practically never saw the sun, and all surfaces were covered with a film of black particles and dust. Tuberculosis and other respiratory diseases were widespread. 

Photograph dated January of 1940 in the Hazelwood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA. (Source: Library of Congress)

When the steel was transported to places like Chicago and New York, the construction workers were unskilled and therefore disposable. Without the added expense of harnesses and other safety equipment, untold numbers of working class people plummeted to their deaths. Living under such a capitalist regime, the children and wives relying on these hard working men were left destitute and some were even forced into prostitution. If you have any lingering questions about the soulless nature of this Modernist enterprise, note that it was only after the city enforced new safety regulations that these contractors and firms begrudgingly made use of safety equipment, thereby dramatically reducing the number of work related deaths. However, in many less developed countries (such as Quatar - see my sources below) this cruel practice continues to this day. 

Photograph of a man working on the empire state building. Notice that he is not wearing any protective gear or harnesses in 1941 or 1942. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

At the same time, Modernism - with its' whole-hearted rejection of decoration - rendered many skilled craftsmen unemployed. Many had to learn other skills to survive or work for less pay along side unskilled laborers on Modernist projects. There is no doubt that this dramatically reduced the quality of life for many people.

How many great buildings have been destroyed to build parking lots, garages, and wasteful towers? Modernism is essentially a predatory architecture that destroys anything old, cultural, or valuable. The pattern is undeniable, though much speculation abounds around the origins of this destructive principal. 

Jeweler's Row, a historic row house street fronted with shops, is only the latest of Modernism's victims here in Philadelphia. That's right, you guessed it, the site is being cleared in order to build another glass tower that will waste more energy. 


This 2016 photograph shows what jewelers row in Philadelphia looked like before demolition began for the construction of a new steel and glass residential tower in 2019. (Source: Philly Voice)

Now maybe none of these privileged Modernists architects have had to wash windows, but I have. I can tell you, based on experience, that it would be impossible to keep my house looking remotely decent if all the walls were made of glass. Modernist buildings keep crews of window washers employed. Without all this continual maintenance, these towers would be rapidly frosted over with all the grey dirt and black grime of the city. The glass would become disgustingly opaque in a matter of weeks. 

Fire safety is yet another troubling factor the Modernist's underplay. Only this past summer a 16 floor apartment building in Philadelphia caught fire. 18 people died. One survived by scaling down the exterior of the building. At a certain point, a person is simply too far away from the ground to reach safety should a calamity occur on or in the building. Take for example the twin towers in New York city in 2001. Thousands of people died, trapped in the towers and unable to escape in time before the towers finally collapsed. Ironically, after these disturbing calamities have vividly demonstrated the error inherent in this kind of architecture, the Modernists continue erecting glass towers as though nothing happened. How detached must one be to miss this obvious safety problem? And, even if fire can be engineered into oblivion (although no real world system can ever be expected to perform at 100% reliability), can we really plan into oblivion planes crashing into buildings? 


Twin Towers, 2001 (Source: Bob Gruen)

Another question seldom raised involves the merit of these designs. What impact do these buildings have on the residents who live in or around them? After all, office-goers can and do leave the area when the work day is done. These leaves the people in the city to cope with them. Direct sunlight may never reach the street below these glass giants. More importantly, however, I am reminded of a sociological experiment with abandoned cars left in two distinct places and observed. The car left in an area with traditional architecture was untouched. The car left in a New York slum near a poor housing tower was rapidly stripped for parts. It is obvious from this example that economics and architecture are linked. Those with money chose to live in an area with traditional architecture. Those without money were forced to live with Modernism. 

Right across the street from where I live there once was a similar housing project tower. My neighbors (some have lived in this neighborhood for 30 years) tell me that crime and drugs ran rampant around the building and that it lowered the quality of life for everyone in the area. Interestingly, the city tore down the tower a few years ago and replaced it with (what had originally been torn down to build the tower) row houses made of brick. Now that those same people from the tower now live in these row house units - their environments being the only change - crime has dramatically gone down. 

Does this mean the people who live in or near these Modernist monstrosities are negatively effected by them? The conclusion is rather obvious. 

With so much history, innovation, and experience to draw on, Modernism is truly senseless. We have already made many of these avoidable mistakes in building - and self corrected with innovative solutions - over the previous generations. So why can't the Modernists see it?

Perhaps they do, but they are too wrapped up in the current zeitgeist dedicated to the pursuit of money and material rewards. In a word: greed. Alternatively, perhaps they want us to feel uneasy, uncomfortable, distracted, and annoyed. In a less sinister way, perhaps they simply do not care that their designs are hideous and have cruel and detrimental implications for the well-being of the people who live with them. It seems unlikely, however, that they are oblivious - for this would be a remarkable thing given the rigor with which architects must be licensed today. Regardless, I doubt any client would seriously want to rely on such an oblivious architect to design a building for them.  

Thankfully, promising alternatives to this bleak scene do exist. In my next post, I will explore some of the age old traditional and vernacular architectural solutions to reduce energy consumption, costs, maintenance, and that generally improve the quality of human life and the lifespan of a building. Some of these generational improvements have once again been successfully employed in the contemporary world with such promising programs as New Urbanism. Almost forgotten, these innovations are again being used to successfully solve the dire challenges we face today.  
         
Sources:

Harcourt, Bernard E., and Jens Ludwig. “Broken Windows: New Evidence from New York City and a Five-City Social Experiment.” The University of Chicago Law Review, vol. 73, no. 1, 2006, pp. 271–320. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4495553.

“File:Photograph of a Workman on the Framework of the Empire State Building - NARA - 518290.Tif.” File:Photograph of a Workman on the Framework of the Empire State Building - NARA - 518290.Tif - Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Photograph_of_a_Workman_on_the_Framework_of_the_Empire_State_Building_-_NARA_-_518290.tif.

Google Maps, Google, https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9676066,-75.1661134,3a,75y,335.1h,103.04t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sWsnq56YnhcKTvqg_ukNyRg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192.

Jack. “Long Stairway in Mill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.” Home, 1 Jan. 1970, http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8c29017/.

Simpson, William. “The Foreign Department, Viewed towards the Transept: McNeven, J.” V&A Search the Collections, V&A Museum of Art and Design, 1851, http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O85649/the-foreign-department-viewed-towards-print-mcneven-j/.

Stephenson, Wesley. “Have 1,200 World Cup Workers Really Died in Qatar?” BBC News, BBC, 6 June 2015, https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33019838.

“Thousands Sign Petition to Prevent Demolition on Jewelers Row.” PhillyVoice, 14 Aug. 2016, https://www.phillyvoice.com/thousands-sign-petition-prevent-demolition-jewelers-row/.

“World Trade Center and 9/11 Images.” Bob Gruen, 15 July 2014, http://www.bobgruen.com/world-trade-center-and-911-images/.