Beauty Revival
This post's leading image is currently my favourite 'before and after' picture. It signals the replacement of the brutality of modern architecture for the grace of classical design.
Europe boasts major architectural treasures in its capitals and small townships. Beautifully arranged brick and stone is the reason millions of tourists visit the old world. It is a source of wealth that North America chooses to destroy and fails to emulate with every new rising box of glass and steel.
Many European capitals are joining the pursuit of ugliness by adding asymmetrical monstrosities to their skylines. Think of London and Paris. Among the breathtaking neoclassical patterns, new vegetable or machine-like structures rise to be lauded as beautiful - at least by its makers.
That's what is most prescient to me; the claim of beauty in ugliness. Whilst recently reading Orwell's '1984', I found the following lines explaining the true purpose of the relativistic approach to architectural design:
'There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science. There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life'. In Orwell's dystopia, the elimination of pleasure and beauty is a tool for the preservation of totalitarian rule.
Now, I am not claiming that business owners are building or renting ugly office buildings for the sake of enslaving our minds. Nor do housing developers have a plan to take our freedom away. What they are missing is the opportunity of offering loving spaces where we could increase our output. Beautiful living spaces lift the spirits of those who inhabit them.
A careful note on the picture
Viktor Orban is the current Primer Minister of Hungary. This building restoration might be part of his project to bring Budapest and Hungary back to its former 'pre-war glory'. Orban has consistently displayed the traits of an autocrat. I despair that we rely on egomaniacs to bring back some sense into architectural design.