I believe in pluralism in architecture, and I hope this blog can be a forum for discussion of a very wide range of architectural thinking. I have long been dismayed by the dogmatic singularity of architectural thought that often sweeps through our discipline, thriving temporarily on its freshness and novelty until it burns out, only to be replaced by a new theoretical “darling”.
Can’t we nourish a range of architectural thinking concurrently; letting many threads coexist and mature together? I hope that is where we are headed right now. It has been criminal, in my mind, for individual schools of architecture to be style factories that churned out a whole generation that were indoctrinated to a single way of thinking about architecture. In a very heterogeneous world, how can this be intellectually sound?
I have, myself, a very catholic appreciation for architecture. I am a sucker for exquisite historical buildings, and I still get chills when I walk into a great Gothic cathedral. But I am also always on a quest to experience the very most daring new thing. It seems to me that thoughtful, mature, skillful design of many different sorts is something to be admired, appreciated and promoted. This should include, I think, a very wide range of different architectural approaches in our own time.
Larry, I stumbled upon your site today and was delighted by your postings and articles. I'm here in Houston, working for your colleague Bill Stern, and love spending lunch-time at Discovery Green. You and your team did a masterful job. I also think the Christ Church Cathedral complex is a wonderful, if not overlooked, addition to the cityscape. I look forward to reading more from you and seeing more of your work.
Thanks for the comment. I was in Houston last Monday and walked by both Christ Church and Discovery Green. Even on a cold grey day there was a lot of action. I am really impressed by the variety of people at Discovery Green. Guy Hagstette and his staff do a fantastic job of keeping new, interesting things happening there. Say hello to Bill for me. You are in a good place. Keep in touch!
Larry, your comments about style and trends ring so true with me. Since I left UT in 1989, I have thought how can all these fading trends and individualism be applied to such a thing as buildings -which we must live with for so long. I have envied those mono-cultural places where the buildings are all so similar. I could go on and on, but my thinking now is that buildings should be humane and anthropomorphic in their image and symbolism. I think that's why I, too, get chills when I think about cathedrals and the Parthenon; but I don't want to do historical revivals. Instead, something fitting with the power of contemporary times.