Saturday, January 14, 2006

Unités de la putréfaction d'habitation

Yet another survey of work on the unintentionally cruel inventor of Les Cités is reviewed by Le Monde. It prompts me to think of the modernist age when Architects wanted to be thought of as social thinkers, and they tried to pawn off their megalomania as a lecture about people needing to eat their spinach:

«Too much of modern building construction is done because it is possible, not because it is a good idea. Many of the structures built by Dutch architects in the 1920s and 30s include brick used in tension, and it soon requires major and costly repairs. Arrogance is a dangerous quality in an architect, and one that is all too common. Le Corbusier must have been about the most arrogant man who ever lived. »
With apologies to one of his more mature fans, of course.

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