Ruben Hansen, welcome to the show. Thank you
so much for having me. I'll be blunt. Why are
our cities ugly today and why does it matter?
It's a long story. I think we can trace it all
back, of course, to the rise of the industrial
revolution where we suddenly got new construction
methods and we got all these also new We got
cities with horrible living circumstances, first
of all. We were living in overgrown cities. There
was pollution. At the turn of the 20th century,
there were really bad living circumstances and
they were looking for solutions. Then with the
First World War and all these new visions of
art and architecture, also came another way of
building. A way of building that really embraced
these new industrial ways of building, yeah,
buildings. And it was also, it was a very revolutionary
time. And part of this, while this new idea of
building buildings, modernism, was also to throw
away all the old and to just do away with tradition
because it had fields in their eyes. They had
a First World War that... killed millions, completely
destroying the ideas and the faith in the old
order, and all these exciting new materials,
and they really thought we're going into a new
age. But they threw the baby out with the bathwater
because there were actually a lot of things that
were actually working, that did work well, and
they threw them away, but they actually threw
away something that had merit. A little example
I always like to give is the idea of a cornice,
which is like, well, a ledge on the top of a
building. And they thought, well, it's kind of
like a cron, and well, that's not revolutionary,
so it has to be cut out. We have to scrap it,
no more cornices. But yeah, cornices actually
have a function. They keep rainwater from dripping
over the facade, keeping facades clean and beautiful.
I was in Lisbon this year and there was a building
in front of our Airbnb and it had like, not only
didn't have a cornice, but it had a facade that
like curved up like in a rounded shape. So it
was so dirty. Like you saw like all the dark
schmutz just from rainwater and dirt all collected
on the top and it just looked horrible. And then
next to it was an old building with like a nice
cornice and you saw like just a clean facade.
And you saw exactly how a cornice works and how
that... So that is, so how that happens. Well,
of course, after the Second World War, this way
of building modernism, that also, yeah, but that's
kind of completely contrasted with how we had
built for millennia became... seen as the answer
and kind of the, you know, the democratic Western
way of building, it became seen as the progressive
forward looking way of building. And it was successfully
instated in all universities, for example, by
the, well, by a lot of Bauhaus professors who
fled from Germany and, well, they settled in
the United States, and for example, Walter Gropius,
the founder of the Bauhaus, he became, well,
I think, a director or associate director or
something at the Harvard School of Architecture.
So they completely changed their way of teaching,
which was already, by the way, a process that
had been put in motion before that time at Harvard
specifically. There was like a wave of, let's
say, modernism was being adopted in all architecture
schools because they collectively believed, well,
it was a big push, first of all, but it was also
kind of a movement of the times that they thought,
we are done with the Beaux -Arcs tradition. We
don't need all these watercolors anymore. We're
going to throw out all the cast of traditional
buildings which our students are studying. Hand
drawing has to be different. And they all adopted
this Bauhaus way of designing. And this meant
that, well, this revolution was finally finished
around the early 70s in all universities. And
from that moment on, this way of building was
basically installed as de facto way of building
everywhere. And it was such a successful revolution,
let's say, or coup that, well, there was basically
competition was completely destroyed. All the
little craftsmen who made ornaments and little
factories who made ornaments, because that was
made by a lot of little companies and craftsmen,
but also workshops who actually mass produced
molds and casts and stucco. They all went bankrupt.
They had to be re -schooled. It was basically
a complete clearing of the field and this new
way of building was victorious. But the problem
is that this new way of building wasn't very
popular from the very beginning because its shapes,
its focus on horizontality, its raw minimalist
aesthetic, it didn't provide people with their
preference for natural forms, for complexity,
for detail. Of course, you had Adolf Loos with
his Manifesto Against Ornament. Well, that was
very effective too, because ornament was really
banned. But people still like ornaments. There
is something very deep in humans that likes natural
forms. I think that's also why we like, why many
people like Zaha Hadid's work with all the flowing,
you know, fluid forms, because it reminds us
of nature, probably, that that's one of the most
probable explanations. And people like this structured
order and this hierarchy and facade and what
classical architecture offers. And so why it
matters. Uh, that our, so our cities have, but
they became, they became uglier because there
was a lot of contrast with these new buildings
that did not mix well with the old because they
did not build on the same principles as the old.
They rejected those principles outright and,
uh, on principle and therefore it could never
really adopt any of those things. Although that
stage has now kind of, um, well. We're entering
a new stage, I think, also with modernism because
more and more architects are experimenting with
traditional forms and they are learning from
traditions. You see it in Iran, for example,
where you see a lot of interesting brickwork
facades and you see more arches appearing. So
they're playing with those ideas. And I think
it's also because it's a very limited toolkit
if you can only work with with the shapes that
high modernism allowed. But yeah, so yeah, we
have all these, this whole development and at
some point you get more and more buildings that
don't respond to what people naturally like and
you get areas that are alienating and here we
land in the part where why it matters is that
we get city districts where people don't feel
at home and we create Well, places that aren't
really placed are just spaces. They feel dead.
They don't feel safe. They don't feel pleasant.
You don't want to go there. You want to go away
there. A great example is the Utrecht University
campus, the Utrecht Science campus, where 40
% of the students living there have mental health
problems. 40%. That's huge. Four out of 10 is
crazy. And if you walk around there, of course,
it's not all, it doesn't have all to do with
the, with the built environment. A lot does because
they all live in little studios in horrifically
ugly buildings, far away from the city. There's
nothing to do. There's no, there's only one little
cafe for students, but yeah, there's not like
the hustle and bustle. It's like a tower in the
park. kind of development with all these horrifically
ugly buildings in some sort of a campus like
district, but not beautiful. And there's nothing
else to do. So they're isolated. They're far
away from the city where it happens, you know,
where life happens. Um, and it's, and it's so
crushingly ugly. Like it's, it's just a whole
other level. Yeah. It's like, it's, it's a pure
machine. No identity, nothing that makes it.
special to the Lake Christian it is. Yes, it
could be anywhere. It doesn't have anything to
do with Utrecht. And it has one of the student
homes is like, I think it's the ugliest building
I know just like of anywhere. Like it's, I need
to show you a picture of this because you'll,
you'll, you'll probably agree. Um, but anyway,
like the, the, the whole point is that we are
creating such places. while there is an alternative
that is more livable. And if only they would
learn from what makes the city center of Utrecht
attractive and pleasant and apply those lessons
to this new district, there would not be a single
problem. But there is a sort of foolhardiness
and a sort of stubbornness and no, they want
to force the future and they want to force it
in a way that nobody loves. And they keep building
these things which they think kind of bring us
into a bright new world, but it doesn't bring
us into a bright new world. It brings us into
a dystopia. And I think the point is you can
ask the people what they like and you will get
this answer. And there is a huge gap between
architects and the people because they're not
designing what people like. Yeah, it's something
that when I talk to other architects or to family
members and people that don't know about architecture,
it's a thing I discovered when I launched my
YouTube channel. I call it the curse of knowledge.
Well, for me, but it's a very known principle
is that we, as architects, we begin to learn
so much about modernity, about architecture,
about the five principles of modern architecture
that we begin to forget that who who we are designing
for. Who are we designing for? And I think that's
the question that more and more architects forget,
but also more and more architects are maybe thinking
to put that question at the center of their practice.
Yeah. And yeah, that's a very good point. That's
the design disconnect as, for example, the bridge
placemaking company in design office. Create
Street knows it or calls it. So the design disconnect
is this gap between designers and laypersons.
And actually, I found quite some research on
this. It's a well -known fact. It's very clear
data. There's a lot of research into this. It's
a real thing. But I think that it has to do with
anything you're going to learn a lot about, you're
going to probably value more. Because there's
also time investment. And there is, yeah, of
course there is a sort of beauty to this minimalism.
You know, like there is, it is also a sort of
taste which you can really start to appreciate.
And I think it is a form of learned taste. But
what I also think is that if you, those who study
classical architecture, I think they start, of
course, you know, they maybe get the taste for
that kind of architecture. But I think the solution
would be to make it fair, to make sure that students
don't only learn about modernism, but also about
vernacular architecture and about classical architecture.
They get the full package, and then they can
choose. I think it's only fair, because modernist
architecture is not the only part of the world.
There's more out there. And of course they get
some architectural history, but they don't learn
the practice of how to make new traditional architecture.
I did my studies in Paris and I knew nothing
about architecture. My first introduction was
the work of Tadeu Ando. In my mind, everything
had to be very new, very modern. And we had a
history class, but the history class focused
briefly on ancient history like Mesopotamia and
then the Greeks and the Romans, but it was very
brief. We really had courses about modernism,
about the Cold War, about the work of Le Corbusier.
It was very focused on that. I never learned
from school like proportion, the golden number.
the Doric system, the ionic system. We just saw
them on the PowerPoint, one image and that's
it. We never learned about that and I think it's
a bit of a shame and it's a nice transition because
I heard you recently published one podcast episode
where you talked about the episode of the black
fence and maybe you can talk about that a bit.
Yeah, so that was an interesting and actually
it's funny because yesterday I was with friends
who I got to know during that exact exercise
and it's fun because they were a little bit puzzled
because it was an urban design exercise and I
saw how you dress it up with elements as an integral
part of how an area functions. It's of course
landscape design, but it's all holistic. It's
all connected. In any case, what happened was
I was in a minor at Delft University of Technology
to finish my bachelor with some study points.
I found this minor and I was like, oh, that looks
very interesting. Finally, I can do something
with like urban design. We got to redesign or
do a project in an area where there was this
park with kind of like a kind of like a little
bit of a dilapidated, but still historical area
with a park in the middle and a big black fence,
very ugly black fence. And that black fence was,
I think it just dragged the whole area down because
with a little bit more, a little bit nicer Yeah,
let's say detailing of the public space that
whole area could actually start to feel chic
and I feel it would uplift everyone So that was
my point. Let's let's put some nice, you know
a nice fence in some nice lantern posts and Because
it was such a long time ago I thought I thought
that they they well they were reacting rather
bit strangely to my suggestion because, oh, you
know, beautiful stuff. Why would we do that?
And it was, they found it kind of a bit funny.
Um, but, um, yeah, yesterday I learned that actually
we, I think we have actually implemented it,
but it was like, okay, we'll give Roman his fans,
you know, to shut me up, you know, okay, you
get your fence. Um, so, but, uh, but still it
w there was kind of like a weird, like there
wasn't the understanding that it's a holistic.
that urban design and aesthetics really go hand
in hand, and that even the detailing of public
space can make a big difference on how you experience
an area. That's one of the things nowadays with
this minimalism that is, well, it's everywhere.
Most of the new lantern posts, or except for
in historical areas where there is some sort
of a design code, You will always see those very
tight minimalist lantern posts, but there is
something with these complex natural forms and
foliage and ornament that can make it feel more
uplifting. Maybe it's our biophilia, our love
for nature that is activated there. But I think
this is something that's overlooked and that
was something interesting and I keep touching
on it as like an example of this difference in
mindset that I was very focused on this beauty
aspect and that was not really apparent there
in university. A point you made which I found
interesting is that beauty is not enough in architecture
school. When you bring up the concept of beauty,
you're instantly frowned upon. It's like you
just said a bad word. Why do we talk about a
beauty? Beauty is useless. It's subjective. I
got this comment the other day on one of my videos.
What are you talking about? Beauty is subjective.
And as a matter of fact, we kind of found that
beauty can be... engineered mathematically. It's
a kind of a game of proportion, nature, organic
shapes and everything. Yeah, if beauty is so
subjective, why does everybody go to the same
places, like to have their holidays? Why does
everybody take Instagram pictures in front of
some buildings and not in front of others? Why
do people want to... you know, like spend more
money on a certain house than on another house.
Um, like maybe, maybe beauty is indeed like somewhat
subjective, but I think there's definitely a
part of it that is more objective than people
might think. And it is like, it doesn't show
on the personal level. It shows on the aggregate,
like on the aggregate, on the, on the larger
scale, you see patterns emerging. And that is
what is being ignored easily. And then they can
say, yeah, but it's populist, you know? Well,
shouldn't we listen a bit to what, you know,
like, isn't it totalitarian on the other hand,
to just to do what only a small group of people
like? I think we should always listen a little
bit to what people want. Otherwise you risk getting,
you know, a complete chaos. But like the alternative
is of course, Not that we're going to build exactly
what everybody wants because then you get, well,
in Belgium, the people hire their own architects
and you get the RV Belgian houses with the weirdest
castles. That happens there because everybody
can basically build what they want. I think there's
still a role for expertise, but I think there
should be. There should be, yeah, that gap between
designers and the public needs to be filled because
there is so much evidence that people like certain
things and that is good for them. And we see
also a lot of research that there's actually,
yeah, you know, like health, yeah, it's detrimental
to your health if you live in an alienating place.
Really, how can a concrete and glass façade make
you unhealthy? Imagine an urban district where
all the façades are super cold and alienating.
Maybe that little piece of façade is not going
to make the difference, but if you have it in
an ensemble of buildings and it strongly affects
the experience at street level where people experience
the street, That is going to influence how they
behave. It's going to influence how often they
go out, maybe to take a walk, if they even want
to go on a walk, if they feel safe there. If
they don't feel safe, that will lead to stress.
Stress is enormously unhealthy. If you build
a place where everything is human skilled and
you feel enclosed and it's a pleasant place to
be, you can reduce stress. And that is one of
the mechanisms, the many mechanisms to improve
your health. So I think there needs to be far
more research into this. Of course, we now have
like, we have like a hunch, but we, it hasn't
been a real big area of study and research. And
I think this would be super interesting to do
more academic research into like what, how does
a certain area affect you? And maybe you can
literally put sensors on people and put them
in different areas and see how their stress response
is. But that takes really good researchers and
needs to be reproducible. Otherwise you have
junk science. But there are already so many interesting
pointers that there is something wrong there.
And also the presence of nature. Oh yeah, I stumbled
onto some articles that were talking about that,
about how architecture makes us feel and what
psychological impact it has on us. And studies
showed that colours and the presence of nature
and ornaments and all of those details that we
see in the facade, they have a huge impact on
our psyche. So there are elements that show that
a beautiful maybe not the most ornated building
in the world, but like a building with some detail
has a nice impact on us. And it's really funny
because also you probably know a Barbican center
in London and many people find it very ugly,
but people who find it beautiful I think a lot
of them find it beautiful because there's so
much greenery there and you have the water and
that really takes the edge off, let's say, the
brutalism, just the concrete facades. If you
would take away all the greenery from the Barbican
Center and the water, I really wonder how many
people would still find it attractive and would
find it special. Yeah, you can make people very
angry very fast by dunking on the Barbican center.
But I really think that nature is so important
that even the most inhospitable places you can
make more beautiful by it. And what I find kind
of funny is that how they're building all these
vertical forests now by Stefano Boeri, the Italian
architect who built this vertical forest. Bosco
Verticale in Milan, and now he has multiple towers
in Holland as well. Because in Holland they're
like, oh my God, they all drool over these towers,
trees on towers, but they forget the immense
maintenance costs and the immense extra weight
that needs to be carried by those towers, all
extra concrete, probably offsetting the tiny
bit of extra CO2. in those plants by a manifold.
But the point is, it does work because people
see the trees and they're like, oh my goodness,
trees in a building, that's revolutionary. It's
just not the most practical way. Maybe you could
also build a nice park, for example. And I agree,
it is novel, but will it sustain? Will it last
for a long time? But yeah. Uh, so greenery does
work. And that's also why architects hide their
renders to artists impressions behind all this
greenery, um, because it works. Um, but the funny
thing is that you can bring nature in a building
with proportions, detail, and ornaments, and,
um, you will get a building that's almost feels
like a part of nature. And I think that's why,
um, I always like. classical buildings in a natural
setting because it goes together so well. It's
so harmonious. And it's like, sometimes like,
you know, it's an enrichment of nature to have
a little, a little temple or a little bridge,
you know, one of those palladium bridges in like,
for example, in Pryor Park and Bath. It just
enriches the natural landscape, which is interesting
because isn't nature the peak of beauty? I think
it's this little disruption that's still harmonious
can make it even more beautiful. That makes a
nice transition to a point I wanted to talk with
you about is the subject of simplicity. Because
as you said with the towers in Milan, it's an
incredibly complex building. It's like an engineering
marvel. It's very complex. the maintenance of
the building is very, very hard to do. And it
asks the question, why are we building so complicated
when we have very simple solutions? And this
is where I want to talk about vernacular architecture,
about the solutions that the people themselves,
not trained architects, but people have come
up with. all on their own to, to live in their
specific environment and lessons that we can
learn from that. Because I think that's a very
interesting topic. That's true. I think, uh,
so while nowadays we, we, um, we have made it,
um, a requirement for ourselves to build difficulty,
uh, in it, well, like, yeah, complicate things
because we have all those very stringent norms.
building norms and environmental demands of our
buildings that just drive up costs, make it more
expensive. Of course, it also lowers carbon and
everything, but it also leads to buildings that
are now here in Holland. They build buildings
that are so well insulated that they cannot get
the heat out without an air conditioning. It's
just, it's either the heat is trapped inside
and people are overheating. They're putting like
blankets in front of the windows to keep out
the heat and they, they're just suffering or
they literally go on a holiday just to be out
of the house. So, um, yeah, it's, it's really
bad in some ways. And, uh, but that's, that's
just, that's just like the ordinary, uh, yeah.
Complication of all these buildings. We also
have, yeah, like these. extremely, all the modernist
buildings that are very over -engineered with
all these cantilevers, all these interesting
structures to do something that is architecturally
interesting according to the architect. People
think that traditional architecture is very expensive,
but it's actually very basic and very simple
to make because normally it's just a box. Like
I've never seen a traditional building that has
to be kept up by this whole this construction
to tilt it in a weird angle. It's very simple
and most of the money will probably go into craftsmanship
and maybe some ornament and maybe some decorations.
But for the rest, it's a very simple construction,
just a box with a roof. And that is with vernacular
architecture is about as simple as it gets because
it's made by people over centuries and they have
ingrained it with all this local knowledge of
what climate they're in, how to react to the
climate, how to build buildings using local materials
that adapt to local circumstances, which is,
yeah. finding technical solutions over centuries
with a very limited set of tools and they did
it really well. Many of those buildings still
stand to this day and then you're in like a little
German village with those half -timbered homes
and of course now they're extra insulated and
that all still works, but those buildings are
still going. and they're still being built, half
-timbered homes. There's enormous wisdom there
that is, I think, not perspective enough and
not used enough. Of course, we don't need to
stay in an eternal 19th century and always keep
building the same kind of architecture, but at
least learning from it would be a great first
step. Like you talked about the wind towers in
Iran, in Persia, that's the next way of controlling
the heat, the sun, or when you go to south of
Spain, Andalusia or Morocco for example, you
have those courtyard houses that can act as a
very cool environment in a very harsh weather,
a very harsh sun. So yeah, the wisdom, I think
it's interesting as as an architect and professional
of construction to see those solutions and take
the best out of them and also apply our modern
good solution that we developed today. So now
let's say I'm someone who wants to learn about
those classical ways of building. Someone who
wants to learn to understand old cities, understand
that wisdom that we can see everywhere, that
we yearn for. Where can I start on the vastness
of this information? Where can I start? Where
can I find something that can maybe put me in
the right direction? Well, there is of course
a lot of There's books, but the problem with
those books is which book do you start to read?
There are YouTube videos, of course, but then
again, how do you structure them? This is actually
a problem. There's very few universities where
they're teaching this. In Europe, I think there's
only one master's program where they teach classical
architecture and one track in Norway where students
can do their own... a graduation project and
learn classical. And for the rest, you have more
and more schools in the United States teaching
it. For the rest, there's only summer schools
where you can go. So there's more and more summer
schools of traditional architecture and urbanism
all across Europe and also now in the United
States and in Mexico, where they're teaching
this. In Brazil, there was also one. So it's
really a growing movement. But I was also aware
of this project problem and I started my own
Academy with a static city Academy is just kind
of an online on demand way to learn this from
the comfort of your home because going to the
summer school is I think the most was until now.
The most. Yeah, let's say accessible way to to
learn this because. Well. It's a short program.
You can do it over summer and it's not like a
full architectural course. So if you don't have
all the time, you can learn a lot there, but
still you have to get the tuition. It's like
between 500 and a thousand euros, depending on
where you go. You have to sometimes buy a ticket.
If you come from the States, well, it costs another
thousand euros. Or if you go, you know, to other
country, it costs a couple of hundred euros at
least. Then you have the, you need housing. So
that can also cost like 500 or 600 or even more.
depending on where you are. So that can easily
be like 1500 or 2000 euros or dollars to do a
summer school. And we made it super affordable
so everybody can follow it. So that's a little
bit of a plug there. The point is, who else is
going to do it? Where can you learn it? And we
wanted to give a little introduction. Of course,
we cannot teach the full thing. We cannot teach
everything. But we just wanted to make one little
opportunity to learn as much as they can from
the comfort of their own home, and also actually
do exercises to draw architecture, to learn more
about their built environment, and to understand
these principles. But then, of course, I think
some really great books are The Art of Classic
Planning by Nir Buras. They have a great, uh,
Academy to the classic planning Academy, which
I also followed, which can also advise it's it's,
uh, it's, they have like classes online, which
are by a live teacher instead of just on demand,
but really, really great to, to learn as well.
Um, but yeah, I think those are the new offerings,
you know, we're building our own institutions
because universities don't teach it. So yeah,
what are we going to do? Well, we'll make it
ourselves. So maybe that's the reason why you
launched your channel is because you were tired
of waiting. Ah, exactly. And for me, I wanted
to learn more about it. And I was frustrated
that I didn't learn at the university. And for
me, it's kind of like this kind of a quest of
learning and then also immediately teaching what
I learned. And sometimes I... I make mistakes.
Sometimes things are not as accurate or I learn
like, hey, there's a nuance here. For example,
I think my concrete video was maybe a little
bit too pessimistic about the longevity of concrete,
but I still think that there are problems there.
And okay, even if a building lasts for 100 years,
there's some chemical processes that are just
happening, like the carbonization of concrete.
There is just a limited lifetime of those buildings,
but some of them can really stand for a very
long time and they still do. Especially with
a very thick, very good cover of the concrete.
It's a very thick depth of the concrete before
the rebar. Buildings can last very long. But
yeah, the point is, yeah, why does it take Yeah,
you know, like we have this whole world of traditional
architects and it feels sometimes weird to be
one of the earlier ones with a YouTube channel
because it was such an open door. It's so logical
to talk about this. I don't know. It's interesting,
but I'm really happy to share this because I
really love the work of all these people. They
find it nice that I show their projects and I
like visiting them and filming those projects.
And people watching the videos like learning
about them. So it's kind of a win -win -win situation.
Yeah, I sure did. I learned a lot from your videos.
You were the first who openly said... As I know,
you were the first who openly said that it's
okay to love beauty, it's okay to seek it. It
was the first time where my modernist training
was, my modernist architect inside of my head
was like, what are you doing? Why are you watching
those videos? But I also have this classical
architect in me that wanted to know more about
this. I think what I love most is that you're
also promoting a lot of hope. It's not just,
oh, it's doom and gloom and we're all done for.
It's like you presented projects that made it,
that did it and that works. And that's what I
find really interesting is that there is another
way. Yeah. And because it's really, especially
on the internet, like there's definitely a bit
of an undertone or a clear You can very clearly
notice there is some sort of a depressing, moody,
hopeless vibe, let's say, on the internet. It's
all doomed and we're all going to die and it's
going to be terrible. But that's not the fool.
It misses the optimist's angle and there is an
alternative and I think we should not just give
up. we should try to improve things. And I sometimes
also lose hope when I walk around a whole district
of a city here that has been ruined. And that's
probably not going to be nice for another couple
of decades when they start demolishing the stuff
that has degraded. But it's kind of like a battle
that takes longer than your own life, probably.
And maybe you'll only see results in decades,
but you just need to keep pushing. Because one
day maybe another generation might enjoy it.
And I think if you have the opportunity to spread
hope, then you should, because that's better
than just spreading doom and gloom. And people
need some hope. I don't really like just... I
don't know, just being negative about things
and not having any clear direction. Like, you
know, okay, there's a problem. Okay, what am
I going to do about the problem? Yeah, there
needs to be some action in the direction of improvement.
And I think what I find interesting is that I
wonder the regular architectural world, have
they really fully woken up yet to this? I do
sometimes get a nasty comment on YouTube, but
I don't get enormous attacks. Well, knock on
wood, but it seems they're just ignoring it for
now. I just wonder, do they know that there is
a stronger and stronger movement towards the
alternative? I think it's because it's still
such early days that Um, there hasn't really
been an awakening yet, but you can notice that
people like Thomas Heatherwick are changing course
because they notice the winds changing. And I
think it would be, I think, um, yeah, it can
go very fast as well. Suddenly. If, if I think
if one or two, uh, big architecture firms suddenly
start doing classical stuff, then I think it
will go very fast because a lot of other firms.
They just follow. Yeah. And I can tell you that
young generation of architects, I'll talk about
my generation, but when I talk to my friends
and right now we're just like junior architects
in some firms to gain experience, we're not happy
with... the way architecture seemed to be going.
And I can say also, maybe it can be an interesting
point of view that, you know, I'm from Morocco
and I plan to go back to it to have my architecture
studio there. And, you know, Morocco and also
Africa as a whole continent, they are in a time
where in a great expansion time with a lot of
new cities going to be built, a lot of infrastructure.
And more and more we, at first we were repeating
the mistakes of the West because we had this
idea that the West was better. It was the way
modernism was the way. And slowly and more and
more, we're getting a lot of appreciation to
our traditions, our old ways of building, that
we had some wisdom there, that we have some very
strong, in Morocco we have some very strong weather,
very harsh, very strong. And we have to adapt
to it. And it's clear that modern architecture,
if we just repeat it, cannot respond to that.
So a lot of architects are choosing to go the
other way. We have Atelier Béheux, who built
the first earth pizze house in a regulated urban
space in Marrakech. We have Salima Najee or Aziza
Shawnee, which were two architects that rebuilt
vernacular houses in the unfortunate houses that
were destroyed in Al -Haus with the earthquake
there. So they rebuilt the house in a traditional
yet modern way. So we have that kind of huge
uprisings of architect who wants to go back to
the roots and wants to express it. So, I think
maybe we'll see a change. I think, yeah. Also,
you talked about the new generation and I think
there is a very clear sign that things are changing
because there's so many young people now. I noticed
so much interest in the summer schools, so much
interest in, well, because of the videos, of
course, but also in this academy we do. And in
my Discord community, for example, there's a
lot of young people who are building stuff with
Minecraft and Roblox Studio. There's a whole
video game inspired generation who see beautiful
games like Assassin's Creed and amazing virtual
environments where all this beauty is possible.
And then they enter the real world and like,
why is this so ugly? So there's this, they're,
they're like, well, why can't we, you know, like
I can build it in Roblox. Why can I build it
in real life? And they want to learn more about
it. And they, uh, strongly gravitate towards
this, this, these traditions. Um, and I think
it's maybe some do it out of nostalgia. Some
just because they like it better, you know, it's
very simple. I just like it better. Um, and I
think the, um, the ideological, uh, the strength
of the ideological, um, um, yeah, uh, influence
of modernism is waning because I think the, the
baby boomer generation is still very, uh, they're,
I think they're most pro modernism because yeah,
they grew up with this idea of that, that there's
progress and that's the future. But the new generations,
they see what horrific places that has led to.
And they see, well, maybe there's an alternative
way. So they don't really care that much about
modernist architecture. So I think with this
new generation, there's going to be a major shift.
Only I think the universities will be too late
to catch up on it. That is, well, a responsibility
then, I think, for new players to jump in that
hole until universities start to see, oh, maybe
we should course correct. What I find, what I
cannot understand is why universities don't teach
it, teach traditions or teach classical architecture
or at least offer it because it's just such a
large part of our architectural heritage. It
can still be used for modern buildings. You know,
you can still mix it and it could even lead to
very exciting new types of buildings, but it's
also just fair to have to offer all the ways
of view. It's very, they always say, yeah, we're
very tolerant of all these ideas, but in how
can you be tolerant of ideas? If you reject one
idea outright, you know, yeah, it's not, it's
not tolerant at all. It's just saying you're
tolerant, but not being it. Yeah. It's the idea
of letting go of the past. They don't see that
the past is a repository of useful ideas that
you can use for a better future and you can recombine
them. There are so many new styles that could
be invented. I saw a beautiful Twitter or X thread
on Grecofuturism. There's this whole, there are
so many cool styles and types of architecture
that could be unlocked and could be developed,
but that aren't because there is a whole avenue
closed off. Yeah. But we are kind of seeing that
in design as well. You know, people are tired.
If I take the example of cause, we had a very,
we have a The pinnacle of modernist car is the
Tesla. It's a very sleek, very simple design.
No buttons, just a screen. Everything is tactile.
And people, the majority of people, hate it.
They... feel the need to have buttons, to have
cogs, to have things to play with. And we can
see it making a return. We see retro -inspired
cars, we see more functional design with a bit
more buttons, we see industrial design is coming
back to a more... Just tactile? Yeah, tactile.
returning back to what really worked in the past
and bringing it, fusing it with what we have
today. Exactly. The strong focus on touchscreens
and everything digital, people like knobs and
people like direct access, but I think the case
of Tesla, there is a... There are some odds that
we won't even need to touch the steering wheel
any longer in a couple of years. So then the
screen just literally becomes a TV. I think that
was their whole philosophy behind it. But indeed,
I think it was Hyundai with their super retro
electric models, like the black station car.
I mean, I would want that car. It's so cool.
And Renault is doing it as well. They took the
old design of the R6 and made it a retro futuristic
model that is available right now. You can see
it in the street of Paris and those are very
colorful cars. It would be interesting also to
speak about the subject of colors maybe as a
final section. That's a very good topic because
everything is losing color. It seems like everything
is becoming sad, gray, beige. And I mean, if
you just look at pictures of like the past, I
mean, from McDonald's to cars, everything was
so colorful and now everything's getting gray
and black and you see those graphs or you see
the number of colors. I'll put it on the screen.
Yeah. Yeah. So it is true. And I think in architecture,
we see it as well. More and more cold colors.
Well, I think, you know, maybe we need brighter
colors. It's like the same with the medieval
filter in a lot of movies, where they put this,
the gray, blue, the bluish dirt filter over all
those. Look as if it's. And then you look at
medieval city like films from medieval times
or about the medieval times from the 60s and
50s and everything is super colorful, which was
probably more accurate to how it really was.
But in architecture also, I think warmer colors
are more liked than colder colors. And I think
in Sweden, you have those beautiful Swedish grace
buildings with all this pastel colors. And in
Athens, they have the beautiful yellow hues and
a bit of pink here and there. And I think, yeah,
maybe also in Palmbury, you see some new homes
with those beautiful pastel colors. I think it's
important to introduce a little bit of extra
color, but I think it's just very, yeah, it depends,
of course, on the country where you are. But
isn't Morocco where you have the blue village?
Yeah, in the mountains, you have blue village
and also Marrakesh is very orange, Bam is white,
Casablanca is another color. Also in Lisbon,
they have really bright colors, red, yellow,
sometimes white. And the tiles. Yeah, the tiles.
Yeah, it's I think I think just what What the
problem is nowadays is that if you're gonna build
mostly with glass and concrete well, they have
They're either gray or a bit of bluish, but they're
exactly that color that is taking over everything
So we just need to clad a little bit less with
concrete and but I do see some cool projects
with like you can do amazing things with terracotta
tiles. I think one of the biggest misunderstandings
with my channel and me and my philosophy is that
they think that I want to go back to the past
or back to some eternal 19th century with endlessly
mass -produced Glasgow buildings. What I really
want is that we get so many good architects who
really understand the language of past architecture,
like to understand the principles behind traditional
architecture, that they can apply those principles
to create new types of buildings that are super
interesting and innovative, like a new, that
we get new styles again, like a new kind of,
yeah, machine, maybe a new kind of art deco,
for example, or a new art and noodle. to blend
those styles and true creativity with those styles.
But for that, you need to understand classical
proportions, because that's your rule book to
play by. And if you don't follow those rules,
well, that's the whole point of modernism, that
you don't need to follow the rules. But if you
follow those rules and make new things with it,
that's still creative and still innovative, only
you're not let free totally like a toddler riding
on the walls. do whatever you want, it's all
okay. It is ultimate freedom, but ultimate freedom
is not always the best for everyone because that
means that someone's freedom limits someone else's
freedom or leads to a conflict with someone else.
If you give me all the freedom that I can do,
that I can do everything what I want, I could
go run in the streets and I don't know, stab
people, you know? But that's not good for those
people who suffer because of that. So we have
rules to kind of keep civilization together.
And I think the same is true with buildings.
We had some rules like, this is what you tend
to do. use this rule book within this rule book,
you can do whatever, but don't like just ignore
the rules because you get chaos. And you get
these buildings that are not humble. They all
fight for attention. But with Molossus, it's
like, no, you are the king. You can do whatever
you want. As long as someone pays for it, everything
is okay. And it's kind of, it reduced the civility
and the kind of mutual respect of those buildings.
And it doesn't come from a place of humbleness,
but of arrogance. Ego. Yeah, exactly. And the
egos of the architect can be inflated endlessly
to build whatever they want and impose that on
other people and, well, ruin their day with an
ugly building that people have to see every day
of their life for 50 years if they live opposite
of it. And they don't have skin in the game because
they don't live opposite of it themselves. They
rent traditional offices and they often live
in traditional houses themselves. There is hypocrisy
there and a sort of egoistic behavior that I
think isn't really ethical or correct. I'm pushing
for the same thing with my channel. I want to
make architecture more accessible and also push
for a more local architecture because yeah when
you go to another country the first thing you
want to experience is the food and the architecture
I mean those two are the primary when you come
to Paris you don't go to like the new to la défense
to the new very modern neighborhood you go for
the center you go to see the Louvre you go to
see You got to see the old Paris when you go
to Lisbon, when you go to Morocco, when you go
to any country, you want to see the very special
places. What makes the culture there. Exactly.
And maybe it's what we can hope for. It's maybe
a return to those more local expression of architecture,
which has the results of the environment and
not the other way around. Exactly. The true richness
of all those. local differences because that's
the nice thing. We don't only have differences
over time in style. We also have differences
between countries and all these different cultures
who developed their own unique types of architecture,
which is super exciting. It's like every country
you go to, it's like a new planet. It's like
you're in Star Wars and you drop down with your
ship and there's a whole new civilization. It's
so cool. And it's such a shame that everything
becomes the same. Yeah. And here's to fight against
it. Well, Ruben, I appreciate you a lot. Thank
you so much for the discussion today. It was
amazing. Yeah. Thank you so much for inviting
me. Yeah. Well, with pleasure. I can spend two
or three hours more talking about it because
let's face it, we're really passionate about
it. Now, I would say it's your time. Where can
people go to find out more about you and what
you do? Yeah, so I have my website, of course,
theaestheticcity .com. You have my YouTube channel,
of course. Just type in theaestheticcity and
you'll find it. And my X page, of course, same
thing there. Just type it in, you'll find it.
And of course, if you want to learn about all
this stuff and you're interested in following
the course, We have that available until about
the end of July. I can give you a link where
you can go and we also have a discount if you
want to join. I think that would be really great
to see you in there. Thank you for watching this
video. If you liked it, please drop a like and
subscribe to this channel. It helps a lot. You
can find my other videos right there. See you
next time!