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Sunday, April 22, 2007
Architects — and why traditional architecture gets a bad rap.
ONE: Because faux-traditional buildings are often designed by people who have no training in traditional architecture, no "eye" and no common sense. Traditional buildings are not ugly.
TWO: Modernist ideologues successfully campaign against traditional architecture and say "you can't do that anymore." They don't say the reason you sometimes can't do that anymore is often because they fight against allowing the study of traditional design. Traditional design can be taught more easily than blobitecture or Starchitecture, since it has principles and standards. But a lot of architectural training is designed to break our understanding and appreciation of those principles.
“Remember, if it's ugly, it's not traditional.”
April 22, 2007 in Architecture, Classicism, Culture, Current Affairs, Education, Urbanism | Permalink
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That's *definitely* ugly.
Posted by: Michael Blowhard at Apr 27, 2007 6:16:40 PM
thank you. I am heading back to school, and before I do, I'm trying to study "traditional" design principles (Saringaros' A Theory of Architecture is helping immensely - thanks again) because I fear that I'll be fed bullsh*t modern principles that I don't believe are beautiful? why can't schools teach the real foundations of architectural design?
Posted by: Frederick at Apr 28, 2007 3:38:21 PM
Of course there are places that teach traditional architecture: Notre Dame, Miami, Andrews, the Prince's Foundation and the ICA & CA.
If a few students at your school want classes in Classical architecture, the ICA & CA will come to you.
Posted by: john at Apr 28, 2007 9:41:16 PM
i'm just about in the same position and opinion as frederick (i'm also reading salingaros at the moment). you'll want to store away your traditional architecture in the back of your head when youre in the arch classroom building and play along with avant-garde weird for the sake of being weird game while in school... make references to koolhaas, hadid, archigram, OMA, MVRDV, derrida, be cynical, talk negatively about new urbanism, dress in black, make the most outlandish and impractical blobs and talk them up with BS, talk in archi-babble, etc... its all about getting an arch degree and good grades. youre in a setting that is so subjective to the prof's opinion and so you have to play along. then when youre out of there do the architecture that you really want.
oh yeah and keep reading lots of salingaros, alexander, new urbanism, classical/trad arch books and stuff on the internet in your free time outside of class. also explore the kinds of architecture and cities you like in your free time.
PS take the summer ICA/CA classical architecture class in NYC.
Posted by: j9 at May 6, 2007 3:41:41 PM
