WHY ARCHITECTURE CONTINUES TO BE UGLY

People in general grossly underestimate the importance of architecture and city planning. Which is weird, because these fields determine our direct living environments. But also, it is where philosophy and politics meet on a publicly visual level. There is a marked difference in the role of politics, with the US being much more free than Europe, where everything is regulated, even to the bolts and nails. But as far as design is concerned, how we build our most direct living conditions depends on how we think, even if we are not aware of it. A basic modernist conceptual framework is the mechanistic world view and its tendency to reduce things to the utilitarian level. This is unlikely to change any time soon. 

Aug. 30, 2025 Jonathan Pageau: Architecture: The Most Important Art - with Andrew Gould and Michael Diamant.

We are building our houses in accordance with our most basic conceptual framework. Hence the brutalism of the notorious French suburb and the wish to foist egalitarian values on the individual man who has no idea why he's living in a crime ridden, disorientating, centerless hell hole in isolation from his fellow man. It's on purpose. 

It is also no coincidence that postmodern 'classical styles' look like parody. That is, because they are! You can't possibly expect postmodernists to treat the classics with anything remotely like there is anything of value in the past! They see the world in terms of power; those who have and those who don't. The past to them is inequality, slavery and racism. That's it! Architecture and city planning is a form of punishment to them. 

And then there are the designers who have no idea what they're doing. They go for the outward form without comprehension why it is, how it is. Stick a few Greek columns on a building and hey presto, Neo Classicism. Manuel Bravo dives into the fascinating world of architecture and urban planning as he explores the masterpiece that is the Parthenon.

Sept. 7, 2023 Manuel Bravo: The Acropolis of Athens Explained with Reconstructions.

A miracle of sorts happened in modern Athens. We have written about it here (link). The magic was possible because it was an organic process out of necessity. Its elites of the times had more basic problems. They could not afford to spend effort and waste money on translating a nihilistic world view into stone. And it was not where their minds were anyway. 

Contemporary Athens is quite another matter. With the redistribution of funds across the European Union public spending in Greece is up. While street repair by more than a patch here and there, is a welcome development, downtown Athens is getting too gritty even for my taste. And then there's the horror of The Hellenikon rising over the coast of Attica, now doubling as a 'riviera' (website). 

Architecture and the state of city planning will improve the moment we start to see the world from a different conceptual framework. Since the Scientific Revolution, the universe has become a clock. A mechanistic contraption. The computer (a calculator) and the use of AI (also a calculator, link) are not going to change that any time soon. If anything, they compound it. 

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