WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.799 Ruben Hansen, welcome to the show. Thank you 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:05.919 so much for having me. I'll be blunt. Why are 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:09.880 our cities ugly today and why does it matter? 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:13.939 It's a long story. I think we can trace it all 00:00:13.939 --> 00:00:18.660 back, of course, to the rise of the industrial 00:00:18.660 --> 00:00:22.699 revolution where we suddenly got new construction 00:00:22.699 --> 00:00:28.969 methods and we got all these also new We got 00:00:28.969 --> 00:00:31.910 cities with horrible living circumstances, first 00:00:31.910 --> 00:00:37.170 of all. We were living in overgrown cities. There 00:00:37.170 --> 00:00:41.090 was pollution. At the turn of the 20th century, 00:00:41.969 --> 00:00:44.030 there were really bad living circumstances and 00:00:44.030 --> 00:00:47.329 they were looking for solutions. Then with the 00:00:47.329 --> 00:00:50.850 First World War and all these new visions of 00:00:50.850 --> 00:00:54.570 art and architecture, also came another way of 00:00:54.570 --> 00:00:58.700 building. A way of building that really embraced 00:00:58.700 --> 00:01:02.439 these new industrial ways of building, yeah, 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:07.319 buildings. And it was also, it was a very revolutionary 00:01:07.319 --> 00:01:12.219 time. And part of this, while this new idea of 00:01:12.219 --> 00:01:15.659 building buildings, modernism, was also to throw 00:01:15.659 --> 00:01:18.819 away all the old and to just do away with tradition 00:01:18.819 --> 00:01:21.359 because it had fields in their eyes. They had 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:24.680 a First World War that... killed millions, completely 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:27.680 destroying the ideas and the faith in the old 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:31.379 order, and all these exciting new materials, 00:01:31.420 --> 00:01:33.120 and they really thought we're going into a new 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:40.079 age. But they threw the baby out with the bathwater 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:43.840 because there were actually a lot of things that 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:46.359 were actually working, that did work well, and 00:01:46.359 --> 00:01:48.359 they threw them away, but they actually threw 00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:51.879 away something that had merit. A little example 00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:56.019 I always like to give is the idea of a cornice, 00:01:56.200 --> 00:01:58.519 which is like, well, a ledge on the top of a 00:01:58.519 --> 00:02:01.560 building. And they thought, well, it's kind of 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:04.519 like a cron, and well, that's not revolutionary, 00:02:04.620 --> 00:02:09.280 so it has to be cut out. We have to scrap it, 00:02:09.319 --> 00:02:11.300 no more cornices. But yeah, cornices actually 00:02:11.300 --> 00:02:13.539 have a function. They keep rainwater from dripping 00:02:13.539 --> 00:02:17.280 over the facade, keeping facades clean and beautiful. 00:02:19.099 --> 00:02:25.759 I was in Lisbon this year and there was a building 00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:29.939 in front of our Airbnb and it had like, not only 00:02:29.939 --> 00:02:34.120 didn't have a cornice, but it had a facade that 00:02:34.120 --> 00:02:39.080 like curved up like in a rounded shape. So it 00:02:39.080 --> 00:02:41.900 was so dirty. Like you saw like all the dark 00:02:41.900 --> 00:02:46.500 schmutz just from rainwater and dirt all collected 00:02:46.500 --> 00:02:50.110 on the top and it just looked horrible. And then 00:02:50.110 --> 00:02:52.229 next to it was an old building with like a nice 00:02:52.229 --> 00:02:54.129 cornice and you saw like just a clean facade. 00:02:54.210 --> 00:02:58.210 And you saw exactly how a cornice works and how 00:02:58.210 --> 00:03:01.969 that... So that is, so how that happens. Well, 00:03:01.969 --> 00:03:04.430 of course, after the Second World War, this way 00:03:04.430 --> 00:03:09.229 of building modernism, that also, yeah, but that's 00:03:09.229 --> 00:03:14.770 kind of completely contrasted with how we had 00:03:14.770 --> 00:03:20.370 built for millennia became... seen as the answer 00:03:20.370 --> 00:03:24.210 and kind of the, you know, the democratic Western 00:03:24.210 --> 00:03:27.530 way of building, it became seen as the progressive 00:03:27.530 --> 00:03:32.810 forward looking way of building. And it was successfully 00:03:32.810 --> 00:03:36.009 instated in all universities, for example, by 00:03:36.009 --> 00:03:40.069 the, well, by a lot of Bauhaus professors who 00:03:40.069 --> 00:03:43.930 fled from Germany and, well, they settled in 00:03:44.250 --> 00:03:46.629 the United States, and for example, Walter Gropius, 00:03:46.830 --> 00:03:52.009 the founder of the Bauhaus, he became, well, 00:03:52.129 --> 00:03:55.830 I think, a director or associate director or 00:03:55.830 --> 00:03:58.889 something at the Harvard School of Architecture. 00:03:59.550 --> 00:04:03.409 So they completely changed their way of teaching, 00:04:03.889 --> 00:04:05.689 which was already, by the way, a process that 00:04:05.689 --> 00:04:07.990 had been put in motion before that time at Harvard 00:04:07.990 --> 00:04:11.770 specifically. There was like a wave of, let's 00:04:11.770 --> 00:04:14.710 say, modernism was being adopted in all architecture 00:04:14.710 --> 00:04:17.449 schools because they collectively believed, well, 00:04:17.449 --> 00:04:20.050 it was a big push, first of all, but it was also 00:04:20.050 --> 00:04:22.430 kind of a movement of the times that they thought, 00:04:23.050 --> 00:04:25.949 we are done with the Beaux -Arcs tradition. We 00:04:25.949 --> 00:04:28.769 don't need all these watercolors anymore. We're 00:04:28.769 --> 00:04:32.649 going to throw out all the cast of traditional 00:04:32.649 --> 00:04:35.329 buildings which our students are studying. Hand 00:04:35.329 --> 00:04:37.920 drawing has to be different. And they all adopted 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:42.399 this Bauhaus way of designing. And this meant 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:45.620 that, well, this revolution was finally finished 00:04:45.620 --> 00:04:49.300 around the early 70s in all universities. And 00:04:49.300 --> 00:04:52.120 from that moment on, this way of building was 00:04:52.120 --> 00:04:55.139 basically installed as de facto way of building 00:04:55.139 --> 00:04:59.720 everywhere. And it was such a successful revolution, 00:05:00.019 --> 00:05:04.100 let's say, or coup that, well, there was basically 00:05:04.860 --> 00:05:07.660 competition was completely destroyed. All the 00:05:07.660 --> 00:05:10.360 little craftsmen who made ornaments and little 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:11.920 factories who made ornaments, because that was 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:16.399 made by a lot of little companies and craftsmen, 00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:19.759 but also workshops who actually mass produced 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:27.220 molds and casts and stucco. They all went bankrupt. 00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:33.720 They had to be re -schooled. It was basically 00:05:33.550 --> 00:05:37.250 a complete clearing of the field and this new 00:05:37.250 --> 00:05:44.490 way of building was victorious. But the problem 00:05:44.490 --> 00:05:46.910 is that this new way of building wasn't very 00:05:46.910 --> 00:05:51.089 popular from the very beginning because its shapes, 00:05:51.550 --> 00:05:55.410 its focus on horizontality, its raw minimalist 00:05:55.410 --> 00:06:00.620 aesthetic, it didn't provide people with their 00:06:00.620 --> 00:06:03.100 preference for natural forms, for complexity, 00:06:03.319 --> 00:06:06.040 for detail. Of course, you had Adolf Loos with 00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:09.620 his Manifesto Against Ornament. Well, that was 00:06:09.620 --> 00:06:12.360 very effective too, because ornament was really 00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:19.560 banned. But people still like ornaments. There 00:06:19.560 --> 00:06:23.959 is something very deep in humans that likes natural 00:06:23.959 --> 00:06:27.569 forms. I think that's also why we like, why many 00:06:27.569 --> 00:06:30.649 people like Zaha Hadid's work with all the flowing, 00:06:30.649 --> 00:06:33.769 you know, fluid forms, because it reminds us 00:06:33.769 --> 00:06:37.810 of nature, probably, that that's one of the most 00:06:37.810 --> 00:06:42.569 probable explanations. And people like this structured 00:06:42.569 --> 00:06:45.730 order and this hierarchy and facade and what 00:06:45.730 --> 00:06:49.870 classical architecture offers. And so why it 00:06:49.870 --> 00:06:52.370 matters. Uh, that our, so our cities have, but 00:06:52.370 --> 00:06:54.029 they became, they became uglier because there 00:06:54.029 --> 00:06:55.629 was a lot of contrast with these new buildings 00:06:55.629 --> 00:06:58.850 that did not mix well with the old because they 00:06:58.850 --> 00:07:01.230 did not build on the same principles as the old. 00:07:01.829 --> 00:07:05.310 They rejected those principles outright and, 00:07:05.310 --> 00:07:08.689 uh, on principle and therefore it could never 00:07:08.689 --> 00:07:13.569 really adopt any of those things. Although that 00:07:13.569 --> 00:07:18.839 stage has now kind of, um, well. We're entering 00:07:18.839 --> 00:07:21.959 a new stage, I think, also with modernism because 00:07:21.959 --> 00:07:25.199 more and more architects are experimenting with 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:27.240 traditional forms and they are learning from 00:07:27.240 --> 00:07:30.860 traditions. You see it in Iran, for example, 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:33.220 where you see a lot of interesting brickwork 00:07:33.220 --> 00:07:37.639 facades and you see more arches appearing. So 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:39.360 they're playing with those ideas. And I think 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:44.259 it's also because it's a very limited toolkit 00:07:44.259 --> 00:07:47.470 if you can only work with with the shapes that 00:07:47.470 --> 00:07:53.750 high modernism allowed. But yeah, so yeah, we 00:07:53.750 --> 00:07:57.029 have all these, this whole development and at 00:07:57.029 --> 00:07:58.569 some point you get more and more buildings that 00:07:58.569 --> 00:08:01.149 don't respond to what people naturally like and 00:08:01.149 --> 00:08:04.069 you get areas that are alienating and here we 00:08:04.069 --> 00:08:07.569 land in the part where why it matters is that 00:08:07.569 --> 00:08:11.850 we get city districts where people don't feel 00:08:11.850 --> 00:08:15.100 at home and we create Well, places that aren't 00:08:15.100 --> 00:08:18.860 really placed are just spaces. They feel dead. 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:21.680 They don't feel safe. They don't feel pleasant. 00:08:22.180 --> 00:08:24.360 You don't want to go there. You want to go away 00:08:24.360 --> 00:08:28.319 there. A great example is the Utrecht University 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:33.740 campus, the Utrecht Science campus, where 40 00:08:33.740 --> 00:08:37.440 % of the students living there have mental health 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:43.250 problems. 40%. That's huge. Four out of 10 is 00:08:43.250 --> 00:08:47.230 crazy. And if you walk around there, of course, 00:08:47.309 --> 00:08:50.110 it's not all, it doesn't have all to do with 00:08:50.110 --> 00:08:53.490 the, with the built environment. A lot does because 00:08:53.490 --> 00:08:57.509 they all live in little studios in horrifically 00:08:57.509 --> 00:09:00.070 ugly buildings, far away from the city. There's 00:09:00.070 --> 00:09:02.870 nothing to do. There's no, there's only one little 00:09:02.870 --> 00:09:04.970 cafe for students, but yeah, there's not like 00:09:04.970 --> 00:09:09.129 the hustle and bustle. It's like a tower in the 00:09:09.129 --> 00:09:12.970 park. kind of development with all these horrifically 00:09:12.970 --> 00:09:15.210 ugly buildings in some sort of a campus like 00:09:15.210 --> 00:09:17.690 district, but not beautiful. And there's nothing 00:09:17.690 --> 00:09:21.450 else to do. So they're isolated. They're far 00:09:21.450 --> 00:09:23.289 away from the city where it happens, you know, 00:09:23.309 --> 00:09:27.429 where life happens. Um, and it's, and it's so 00:09:27.429 --> 00:09:30.929 crushingly ugly. Like it's, it's just a whole 00:09:30.929 --> 00:09:34.649 other level. Yeah. It's like, it's, it's a pure 00:09:34.649 --> 00:09:38.309 machine. No identity, nothing that makes it. 00:09:38.269 --> 00:09:41.750 special to the Lake Christian it is. Yes, it 00:09:41.750 --> 00:09:43.549 could be anywhere. It doesn't have anything to 00:09:43.549 --> 00:09:46.710 do with Utrecht. And it has one of the student 00:09:46.710 --> 00:09:50.610 homes is like, I think it's the ugliest building 00:09:50.610 --> 00:09:54.590 I know just like of anywhere. Like it's, I need 00:09:54.590 --> 00:09:56.990 to show you a picture of this because you'll, 00:09:56.990 --> 00:10:00.610 you'll, you'll probably agree. Um, but anyway, 00:10:00.710 --> 00:10:04.789 like the, the, the whole point is that we are 00:10:04.789 --> 00:10:08.250 creating such places. while there is an alternative 00:10:08.250 --> 00:10:13.409 that is more livable. And if only they would 00:10:13.409 --> 00:10:18.110 learn from what makes the city center of Utrecht 00:10:18.110 --> 00:10:21.370 attractive and pleasant and apply those lessons 00:10:21.370 --> 00:10:24.269 to this new district, there would not be a single 00:10:24.269 --> 00:10:28.110 problem. But there is a sort of foolhardiness 00:10:28.110 --> 00:10:31.129 and a sort of stubbornness and no, they want 00:10:31.129 --> 00:10:33.769 to force the future and they want to force it 00:10:33.769 --> 00:10:38.210 in a way that nobody loves. And they keep building 00:10:38.210 --> 00:10:42.370 these things which they think kind of bring us 00:10:42.370 --> 00:10:45.750 into a bright new world, but it doesn't bring 00:10:45.750 --> 00:10:47.610 us into a bright new world. It brings us into 00:10:47.610 --> 00:10:52.149 a dystopia. And I think the point is you can 00:10:52.149 --> 00:10:54.710 ask the people what they like and you will get 00:10:54.710 --> 00:10:58.090 this answer. And there is a huge gap between 00:10:58.090 --> 00:11:02.129 architects and the people because they're not 00:11:02.129 --> 00:11:07.029 designing what people like. Yeah, it's something 00:11:07.029 --> 00:11:10.149 that when I talk to other architects or to family 00:11:10.149 --> 00:11:12.470 members and people that don't know about architecture, 00:11:13.230 --> 00:11:15.549 it's a thing I discovered when I launched my 00:11:15.549 --> 00:11:18.330 YouTube channel. I call it the curse of knowledge. 00:11:18.710 --> 00:11:21.750 Well, for me, but it's a very known principle 00:11:21.750 --> 00:11:24.809 is that we, as architects, we begin to learn 00:11:24.809 --> 00:11:27.389 so much about modernity, about architecture, 00:11:27.549 --> 00:11:30.470 about the five principles of modern architecture 00:11:30.470 --> 00:11:35.639 that we begin to forget that who who we are designing 00:11:35.639 --> 00:11:38.620 for. Who are we designing for? And I think that's 00:11:38.620 --> 00:11:41.899 the question that more and more architects forget, 00:11:42.139 --> 00:11:45.200 but also more and more architects are maybe thinking 00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:47.980 to put that question at the center of their practice. 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:51.179 Yeah. And yeah, that's a very good point. That's 00:11:51.179 --> 00:11:54.919 the design disconnect as, for example, the bridge 00:11:54.919 --> 00:11:58.500 placemaking company in design office. Create 00:11:58.500 --> 00:12:03.220 Street knows it or calls it. So the design disconnect 00:12:03.220 --> 00:12:08.360 is this gap between designers and laypersons. 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:11.320 And actually, I found quite some research on 00:12:11.320 --> 00:12:14.679 this. It's a well -known fact. It's very clear 00:12:14.679 --> 00:12:16.820 data. There's a lot of research into this. It's 00:12:16.820 --> 00:12:20.799 a real thing. But I think that it has to do with 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:23.820 anything you're going to learn a lot about, you're 00:12:23.820 --> 00:12:25.700 going to probably value more. Because there's 00:12:25.700 --> 00:12:30.529 also time investment. And there is, yeah, of 00:12:30.529 --> 00:12:32.909 course there is a sort of beauty to this minimalism. 00:12:33.070 --> 00:12:35.769 You know, like there is, it is also a sort of 00:12:35.769 --> 00:12:38.509 taste which you can really start to appreciate. 00:12:39.389 --> 00:12:42.429 And I think it is a form of learned taste. But 00:12:42.429 --> 00:12:47.690 what I also think is that if you, those who study 00:12:47.690 --> 00:12:49.850 classical architecture, I think they start, of 00:12:49.850 --> 00:12:52.009 course, you know, they maybe get the taste for 00:12:52.009 --> 00:12:56.529 that kind of architecture. But I think the solution 00:12:56.529 --> 00:13:00.679 would be to make it fair, to make sure that students 00:13:00.679 --> 00:13:07.320 don't only learn about modernism, but also about 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:09.539 vernacular architecture and about classical architecture. 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:11.940 They get the full package, and then they can 00:13:11.940 --> 00:13:16.940 choose. I think it's only fair, because modernist 00:13:16.940 --> 00:13:18.559 architecture is not the only part of the world. 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:22.340 There's more out there. And of course they get 00:13:22.340 --> 00:13:25.220 some architectural history, but they don't learn 00:13:25.220 --> 00:13:27.700 the practice of how to make new traditional architecture. 00:13:29.899 --> 00:13:35.379 I did my studies in Paris and I knew nothing 00:13:35.379 --> 00:13:38.500 about architecture. My first introduction was 00:13:38.500 --> 00:13:42.840 the work of Tadeu Ando. In my mind, everything 00:13:42.840 --> 00:13:46.360 had to be very new, very modern. And we had a 00:13:46.360 --> 00:13:48.879 history class, but the history class focused 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:53.240 briefly on ancient history like Mesopotamia and 00:13:53.240 --> 00:13:56.299 then the Greeks and the Romans, but it was very 00:13:56.299 --> 00:14:00.720 brief. We really had courses about modernism, 00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:05.779 about the Cold War, about the work of Le Corbusier. 00:14:05.879 --> 00:14:11.580 It was very focused on that. I never learned 00:14:11.580 --> 00:14:18.220 from school like proportion, the golden number. 00:14:19.960 --> 00:14:23.519 the Doric system, the ionic system. We just saw 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:26.059 them on the PowerPoint, one image and that's 00:14:26.059 --> 00:14:28.379 it. We never learned about that and I think it's 00:14:28.379 --> 00:14:30.840 a bit of a shame and it's a nice transition because 00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:36.840 I heard you recently published one podcast episode 00:14:36.840 --> 00:14:41.179 where you talked about the episode of the black 00:14:41.179 --> 00:14:45.159 fence and maybe you can talk about that a bit. 00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:48.360 Yeah, so that was an interesting and actually 00:14:48.360 --> 00:14:50.500 it's funny because yesterday I was with friends 00:14:50.500 --> 00:14:56.080 who I got to know during that exact exercise 00:14:56.080 --> 00:15:00.860 and it's fun because they were a little bit puzzled 00:15:00.860 --> 00:15:04.480 because it was an urban design exercise and I 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:08.559 saw how you dress it up with elements as an integral 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:14.190 part of how an area functions. It's of course 00:15:14.190 --> 00:15:16.350 landscape design, but it's all holistic. It's 00:15:16.350 --> 00:15:19.610 all connected. In any case, what happened was 00:15:19.610 --> 00:15:26.070 I was in a minor at Delft University of Technology 00:15:26.070 --> 00:15:30.629 to finish my bachelor with some study points. 00:15:31.289 --> 00:15:33.509 I found this minor and I was like, oh, that looks 00:15:33.509 --> 00:15:35.210 very interesting. Finally, I can do something 00:15:35.210 --> 00:15:43.289 with like urban design. We got to redesign or 00:15:43.289 --> 00:15:46.250 do a project in an area where there was this 00:15:46.250 --> 00:15:49.210 park with kind of like a kind of like a little 00:15:49.210 --> 00:15:52.009 bit of a dilapidated, but still historical area 00:15:52.009 --> 00:15:55.309 with a park in the middle and a big black fence, 00:15:55.570 --> 00:15:59.110 very ugly black fence. And that black fence was, 00:15:59.210 --> 00:16:03.129 I think it just dragged the whole area down because 00:16:03.129 --> 00:16:09.370 with a little bit more, a little bit nicer Yeah, 00:16:09.590 --> 00:16:12.610 let's say detailing of the public space that 00:16:12.610 --> 00:16:14.809 whole area could actually start to feel chic 00:16:14.809 --> 00:16:17.210 and I feel it would uplift everyone So that was 00:16:17.210 --> 00:16:21.070 my point. Let's let's put some nice, you know 00:16:21.070 --> 00:16:27.629 a nice fence in some nice lantern posts and Because 00:16:27.629 --> 00:16:29.970 it was such a long time ago I thought I thought 00:16:29.970 --> 00:16:33.450 that they they well they were reacting rather 00:16:33.450 --> 00:16:36.279 bit strangely to my suggestion because, oh, you 00:16:36.279 --> 00:16:38.960 know, beautiful stuff. Why would we do that? 00:16:39.460 --> 00:16:41.419 And it was, they found it kind of a bit funny. 00:16:42.100 --> 00:16:45.340 Um, but, um, yeah, yesterday I learned that actually 00:16:45.340 --> 00:16:47.539 we, I think we have actually implemented it, 00:16:47.539 --> 00:16:49.600 but it was like, okay, we'll give Roman his fans, 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:52.240 you know, to shut me up, you know, okay, you 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:57.320 get your fence. Um, so, but, uh, but still it 00:16:57.320 --> 00:17:00.080 w there was kind of like a weird, like there 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:02.639 wasn't the understanding that it's a holistic. 00:17:04.259 --> 00:17:07.480 that urban design and aesthetics really go hand 00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:10.859 in hand, and that even the detailing of public 00:17:10.859 --> 00:17:13.539 space can make a big difference on how you experience 00:17:13.539 --> 00:17:16.240 an area. That's one of the things nowadays with 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:20.940 this minimalism that is, well, it's everywhere. 00:17:24.220 --> 00:17:29.420 Most of the new lantern posts, or except for 00:17:29.420 --> 00:17:31.339 in historical areas where there is some sort 00:17:31.339 --> 00:17:34.740 of a design code, You will always see those very 00:17:34.740 --> 00:17:39.579 tight minimalist lantern posts, but there is 00:17:39.579 --> 00:17:44.160 something with these complex natural forms and 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:50.059 foliage and ornament that can make it feel more 00:17:50.059 --> 00:17:58.259 uplifting. Maybe it's our biophilia, our love 00:17:58.259 --> 00:18:04.400 for nature that is activated there. But I think 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:07.700 this is something that's overlooked and that 00:18:07.700 --> 00:18:09.819 was something interesting and I keep touching 00:18:09.819 --> 00:18:12.819 on it as like an example of this difference in 00:18:12.819 --> 00:18:17.420 mindset that I was very focused on this beauty 00:18:17.420 --> 00:18:22.640 aspect and that was not really apparent there 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:26.400 in university. A point you made which I found 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:31.819 interesting is that beauty is not enough in architecture 00:18:31.819 --> 00:18:35.490 school. When you bring up the concept of beauty, 00:18:36.750 --> 00:18:40.430 you're instantly frowned upon. It's like you 00:18:40.430 --> 00:18:44.769 just said a bad word. Why do we talk about a 00:18:44.769 --> 00:18:48.390 beauty? Beauty is useless. It's subjective. I 00:18:48.390 --> 00:18:51.130 got this comment the other day on one of my videos. 00:18:51.670 --> 00:18:54.170 What are you talking about? Beauty is subjective. 00:18:54.809 --> 00:18:58.710 And as a matter of fact, we kind of found that 00:18:58.710 --> 00:19:03.369 beauty can be... engineered mathematically. It's 00:19:03.369 --> 00:19:07.269 a kind of a game of proportion, nature, organic 00:19:07.269 --> 00:19:10.410 shapes and everything. Yeah, if beauty is so 00:19:10.410 --> 00:19:13.029 subjective, why does everybody go to the same 00:19:13.029 --> 00:19:18.950 places, like to have their holidays? Why does 00:19:18.950 --> 00:19:21.170 everybody take Instagram pictures in front of 00:19:21.170 --> 00:19:23.509 some buildings and not in front of others? Why 00:19:23.509 --> 00:19:28.289 do people want to... you know, like spend more 00:19:28.289 --> 00:19:30.470 money on a certain house than on another house. 00:19:31.609 --> 00:19:35.829 Um, like maybe, maybe beauty is indeed like somewhat 00:19:35.829 --> 00:19:38.069 subjective, but I think there's definitely a 00:19:38.069 --> 00:19:41.950 part of it that is more objective than people 00:19:41.950 --> 00:19:45.609 might think. And it is like, it doesn't show 00:19:45.609 --> 00:19:48.130 on the personal level. It shows on the aggregate, 00:19:48.250 --> 00:19:50.430 like on the aggregate, on the, on the larger 00:19:50.430 --> 00:19:53.430 scale, you see patterns emerging. And that is 00:19:53.430 --> 00:19:55.950 what is being ignored easily. And then they can 00:19:55.950 --> 00:19:59.670 say, yeah, but it's populist, you know? Well, 00:20:00.150 --> 00:20:01.549 shouldn't we listen a bit to what, you know, 00:20:01.789 --> 00:20:04.309 like, isn't it totalitarian on the other hand, 00:20:04.430 --> 00:20:06.769 to just to do what only a small group of people 00:20:06.769 --> 00:20:12.490 like? I think we should always listen a little 00:20:12.490 --> 00:20:15.029 bit to what people want. Otherwise you risk getting, 00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:18.809 you know, a complete chaos. But like the alternative 00:20:18.809 --> 00:20:21.440 is of course, Not that we're going to build exactly 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:23.359 what everybody wants because then you get, well, 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:25.579 in Belgium, the people hire their own architects 00:20:25.579 --> 00:20:31.099 and you get the RV Belgian houses with the weirdest 00:20:31.099 --> 00:20:37.420 castles. That happens there because everybody 00:20:37.420 --> 00:20:41.039 can basically build what they want. I think there's 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:47.240 still a role for expertise, but I think there 00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:51.859 should be. There should be, yeah, that gap between 00:20:51.859 --> 00:20:56.000 designers and the public needs to be filled because 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:59.119 there is so much evidence that people like certain 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:02.480 things and that is good for them. And we see 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:05.099 also a lot of research that there's actually, 00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:10.599 yeah, you know, like health, yeah, it's detrimental 00:21:10.599 --> 00:21:12.640 to your health if you live in an alienating place. 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:19.039 Really, how can a concrete and glass façade make 00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:24.400 you unhealthy? Imagine an urban district where 00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:27.940 all the façades are super cold and alienating. 00:21:30.279 --> 00:21:32.759 Maybe that little piece of façade is not going 00:21:32.759 --> 00:21:35.599 to make the difference, but if you have it in 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:39.039 an ensemble of buildings and it strongly affects 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:41.859 the experience at street level where people experience 00:21:41.859 --> 00:21:45.369 the street, That is going to influence how they 00:21:45.369 --> 00:21:46.990 behave. It's going to influence how often they 00:21:46.990 --> 00:21:49.569 go out, maybe to take a walk, if they even want 00:21:49.569 --> 00:21:52.509 to go on a walk, if they feel safe there. If 00:21:52.509 --> 00:21:54.309 they don't feel safe, that will lead to stress. 00:21:54.349 --> 00:21:59.390 Stress is enormously unhealthy. If you build 00:21:59.390 --> 00:22:02.109 a place where everything is human skilled and 00:22:02.109 --> 00:22:05.990 you feel enclosed and it's a pleasant place to 00:22:05.990 --> 00:22:09.950 be, you can reduce stress. And that is one of 00:22:09.950 --> 00:22:13.019 the mechanisms, the many mechanisms to improve 00:22:13.019 --> 00:22:16.859 your health. So I think there needs to be far 00:22:16.859 --> 00:22:19.400 more research into this. Of course, we now have 00:22:19.400 --> 00:22:22.680 like, we have like a hunch, but we, it hasn't 00:22:22.680 --> 00:22:28.200 been a real big area of study and research. And 00:22:28.200 --> 00:22:31.099 I think this would be super interesting to do 00:22:31.099 --> 00:22:34.400 more academic research into like what, how does 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:38.259 a certain area affect you? And maybe you can 00:22:38.259 --> 00:22:41.180 literally put sensors on people and put them 00:22:41.180 --> 00:22:44.339 in different areas and see how their stress response 00:22:44.339 --> 00:22:48.240 is. But that takes really good researchers and 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:50.140 needs to be reproducible. Otherwise you have 00:22:50.140 --> 00:22:59.160 junk science. But there are already so many interesting 00:22:59.160 --> 00:23:01.900 pointers that there is something wrong there. 00:23:03.900 --> 00:23:10.220 And also the presence of nature. Oh yeah, I stumbled 00:23:10.220 --> 00:23:13.940 onto some articles that were talking about that, 00:23:13.960 --> 00:23:17.119 about how architecture makes us feel and what 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:20.000 psychological impact it has on us. And studies 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:23.779 showed that colours and the presence of nature 00:23:23.779 --> 00:23:27.480 and ornaments and all of those details that we 00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:32.720 see in the facade, they have a huge impact on 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:35.980 our psyche. So there are elements that show that 00:23:35.980 --> 00:23:39.970 a beautiful maybe not the most ornated building 00:23:39.970 --> 00:23:43.450 in the world, but like a building with some detail 00:23:43.450 --> 00:23:51.430 has a nice impact on us. And it's really funny 00:23:51.430 --> 00:23:55.650 because also you probably know a Barbican center 00:23:55.650 --> 00:24:01.930 in London and many people find it very ugly, 00:24:02.029 --> 00:24:05.140 but people who find it beautiful I think a lot 00:24:05.140 --> 00:24:06.619 of them find it beautiful because there's so 00:24:06.619 --> 00:24:11.180 much greenery there and you have the water and 00:24:11.180 --> 00:24:16.140 that really takes the edge off, let's say, the 00:24:16.140 --> 00:24:22.920 brutalism, just the concrete facades. If you 00:24:22.920 --> 00:24:25.180 would take away all the greenery from the Barbican 00:24:25.180 --> 00:24:27.279 Center and the water, I really wonder how many 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:29.740 people would still find it attractive and would 00:24:29.740 --> 00:24:33.920 find it special. Yeah, you can make people very 00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:37.519 angry very fast by dunking on the Barbican center. 00:24:38.039 --> 00:24:40.500 But I really think that nature is so important 00:24:40.500 --> 00:24:43.619 that even the most inhospitable places you can 00:24:43.619 --> 00:24:49.079 make more beautiful by it. And what I find kind 00:24:49.079 --> 00:24:52.500 of funny is that how they're building all these 00:24:52.500 --> 00:24:56.779 vertical forests now by Stefano Boeri, the Italian 00:24:56.779 --> 00:24:59.710 architect who built this vertical forest. Bosco 00:24:59.710 --> 00:25:03.309 Verticale in Milan, and now he has multiple towers 00:25:03.309 --> 00:25:06.130 in Holland as well. Because in Holland they're 00:25:06.130 --> 00:25:09.029 like, oh my God, they all drool over these towers, 00:25:09.250 --> 00:25:13.769 trees on towers, but they forget the immense 00:25:13.769 --> 00:25:18.630 maintenance costs and the immense extra weight 00:25:18.630 --> 00:25:20.470 that needs to be carried by those towers, all 00:25:20.470 --> 00:25:24.089 extra concrete, probably offsetting the tiny 00:25:24.089 --> 00:25:28.890 bit of extra CO2. in those plants by a manifold. 00:25:31.970 --> 00:25:35.549 But the point is, it does work because people 00:25:35.549 --> 00:25:37.190 see the trees and they're like, oh my goodness, 00:25:37.230 --> 00:25:41.369 trees in a building, that's revolutionary. It's 00:25:41.369 --> 00:25:43.170 just not the most practical way. Maybe you could 00:25:43.170 --> 00:25:48.450 also build a nice park, for example. And I agree, 00:25:48.609 --> 00:25:52.470 it is novel, but will it sustain? Will it last 00:25:52.470 --> 00:25:55.880 for a long time? But yeah. Uh, so greenery does 00:25:55.880 --> 00:25:58.640 work. And that's also why architects hide their 00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:00.940 renders to artists impressions behind all this 00:26:00.940 --> 00:26:06.319 greenery, um, because it works. Um, but the funny 00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:08.980 thing is that you can bring nature in a building 00:26:08.980 --> 00:26:12.259 with proportions, detail, and ornaments, and, 00:26:13.099 --> 00:26:16.619 um, you will get a building that's almost feels 00:26:16.619 --> 00:26:20.039 like a part of nature. And I think that's why, 00:26:20.839 --> 00:26:24.180 um, I always like. classical buildings in a natural 00:26:24.180 --> 00:26:27.640 setting because it goes together so well. It's 00:26:27.640 --> 00:26:29.859 so harmonious. And it's like, sometimes like, 00:26:29.920 --> 00:26:32.140 you know, it's an enrichment of nature to have 00:26:32.140 --> 00:26:34.700 a little, a little temple or a little bridge, 00:26:34.859 --> 00:26:36.519 you know, one of those palladium bridges in like, 00:26:36.539 --> 00:26:39.940 for example, in Pryor Park and Bath. It just 00:26:39.940 --> 00:26:44.619 enriches the natural landscape, which is interesting 00:26:44.619 --> 00:26:47.940 because isn't nature the peak of beauty? I think 00:26:47.940 --> 00:26:51.359 it's this little disruption that's still harmonious 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:56.259 can make it even more beautiful. That makes a 00:26:56.259 --> 00:26:59.119 nice transition to a point I wanted to talk with 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:03.759 you about is the subject of simplicity. Because 00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:07.299 as you said with the towers in Milan, it's an 00:27:07.299 --> 00:27:11.680 incredibly complex building. It's like an engineering 00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:18.529 marvel. It's very complex. the maintenance of 00:27:18.529 --> 00:27:23.170 the building is very, very hard to do. And it 00:27:23.170 --> 00:27:28.569 asks the question, why are we building so complicated 00:27:28.569 --> 00:27:33.369 when we have very simple solutions? And this 00:27:33.369 --> 00:27:37.230 is where I want to talk about vernacular architecture, 00:27:37.769 --> 00:27:40.190 about the solutions that the people themselves, 00:27:40.430 --> 00:27:43.170 not trained architects, but people have come 00:27:43.170 --> 00:27:47.900 up with. all on their own to, to live in their 00:27:47.900 --> 00:27:50.880 specific environment and lessons that we can 00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:53.400 learn from that. Because I think that's a very 00:27:53.400 --> 00:27:56.819 interesting topic. That's true. I think, uh, 00:27:57.480 --> 00:28:02.539 so while nowadays we, we, um, we have made it, 00:28:02.539 --> 00:28:07.039 um, a requirement for ourselves to build difficulty, 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:10.220 uh, in it, well, like, yeah, complicate things 00:28:10.220 --> 00:28:12.980 because we have all those very stringent norms. 00:28:13.319 --> 00:28:20.140 building norms and environmental demands of our 00:28:20.140 --> 00:28:22.680 buildings that just drive up costs, make it more 00:28:22.680 --> 00:28:27.640 expensive. Of course, it also lowers carbon and 00:28:27.640 --> 00:28:30.220 everything, but it also leads to buildings that 00:28:30.220 --> 00:28:33.299 are now here in Holland. They build buildings 00:28:33.299 --> 00:28:36.079 that are so well insulated that they cannot get 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:38.319 the heat out without an air conditioning. It's 00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:40.339 just, it's either the heat is trapped inside 00:28:40.339 --> 00:28:43.180 and people are overheating. They're putting like 00:28:43.180 --> 00:28:45.839 blankets in front of the windows to keep out 00:28:45.839 --> 00:28:48.539 the heat and they, they're just suffering or 00:28:48.539 --> 00:28:50.779 they literally go on a holiday just to be out 00:28:50.779 --> 00:28:55.000 of the house. So, um, yeah, it's, it's really 00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:57.279 bad in some ways. And, uh, but that's, that's 00:28:57.279 --> 00:29:00.900 just, that's just like the ordinary, uh, yeah. 00:29:02.380 --> 00:29:05.119 Complication of all these buildings. We also 00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:10.119 have, yeah, like these. extremely, all the modernist 00:29:10.119 --> 00:29:11.880 buildings that are very over -engineered with 00:29:11.880 --> 00:29:16.019 all these cantilevers, all these interesting 00:29:16.019 --> 00:29:19.859 structures to do something that is architecturally 00:29:19.859 --> 00:29:23.680 interesting according to the architect. People 00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:27.279 think that traditional architecture is very expensive, 00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:30.460 but it's actually very basic and very simple 00:29:30.460 --> 00:29:32.480 to make because normally it's just a box. Like 00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:34.660 I've never seen a traditional building that has 00:29:34.660 --> 00:29:40.400 to be kept up by this whole this construction 00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:48.099 to tilt it in a weird angle. It's very simple 00:29:48.099 --> 00:29:52.099 and most of the money will probably go into craftsmanship 00:29:52.099 --> 00:29:55.339 and maybe some ornament and maybe some decorations. 00:29:56.579 --> 00:29:58.799 But for the rest, it's a very simple construction, 00:29:59.019 --> 00:30:09.369 just a box with a roof. And that is with vernacular 00:30:09.369 --> 00:30:13.250 architecture is about as simple as it gets because 00:30:13.250 --> 00:30:16.170 it's made by people over centuries and they have 00:30:16.170 --> 00:30:18.130 ingrained it with all this local knowledge of 00:30:18.130 --> 00:30:20.369 what climate they're in, how to react to the 00:30:20.369 --> 00:30:24.150 climate, how to build buildings using local materials 00:30:24.150 --> 00:30:28.150 that adapt to local circumstances, which is, 00:30:28.150 --> 00:30:31.240 yeah. finding technical solutions over centuries 00:30:31.240 --> 00:30:40.319 with a very limited set of tools and they did 00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:45.000 it really well. Many of those buildings still 00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:47.039 stand to this day and then you're in like a little 00:30:47.039 --> 00:30:49.059 German village with those half -timbered homes 00:30:49.059 --> 00:30:52.440 and of course now they're extra insulated and 00:30:52.440 --> 00:30:56.019 that all still works, but those buildings are 00:30:56.019 --> 00:30:59.329 still going. and they're still being built, half 00:30:59.329 --> 00:31:04.069 -timbered homes. There's enormous wisdom there 00:31:04.069 --> 00:31:07.710 that is, I think, not perspective enough and 00:31:07.710 --> 00:31:12.950 not used enough. Of course, we don't need to 00:31:12.950 --> 00:31:17.069 stay in an eternal 19th century and always keep 00:31:17.069 --> 00:31:21.250 building the same kind of architecture, but at 00:31:21.250 --> 00:31:23.450 least learning from it would be a great first 00:31:23.450 --> 00:31:29.789 step. Like you talked about the wind towers in 00:31:29.789 --> 00:31:32.509 Iran, in Persia, that's the next way of controlling 00:31:32.509 --> 00:31:37.329 the heat, the sun, or when you go to south of 00:31:37.329 --> 00:31:40.950 Spain, Andalusia or Morocco for example, you 00:31:40.950 --> 00:31:45.609 have those courtyard houses that can act as a 00:31:45.609 --> 00:31:49.329 very cool environment in a very harsh weather, 00:31:49.789 --> 00:31:53.430 a very harsh sun. So yeah, the wisdom, I think 00:31:53.430 --> 00:31:57.480 it's interesting as as an architect and professional 00:31:57.480 --> 00:31:59.700 of construction to see those solutions and take 00:31:59.700 --> 00:32:05.019 the best out of them and also apply our modern 00:32:05.019 --> 00:32:11.299 good solution that we developed today. So now 00:32:11.299 --> 00:32:16.019 let's say I'm someone who wants to learn about 00:32:16.430 --> 00:32:19.609 those classical ways of building. Someone who 00:32:19.609 --> 00:32:24.549 wants to learn to understand old cities, understand 00:32:24.549 --> 00:32:27.029 that wisdom that we can see everywhere, that 00:32:27.029 --> 00:32:35.269 we yearn for. Where can I start on the vastness 00:32:35.269 --> 00:32:37.750 of this information? Where can I start? Where 00:32:37.750 --> 00:32:40.589 can I find something that can maybe put me in 00:32:40.589 --> 00:32:44.750 the right direction? Well, there is of course 00:32:44.750 --> 00:32:48.359 a lot of There's books, but the problem with 00:32:48.359 --> 00:32:51.619 those books is which book do you start to read? 00:32:52.220 --> 00:32:55.099 There are YouTube videos, of course, but then 00:32:55.099 --> 00:32:58.519 again, how do you structure them? This is actually 00:32:58.519 --> 00:33:01.119 a problem. There's very few universities where 00:33:01.119 --> 00:33:04.420 they're teaching this. In Europe, I think there's 00:33:04.420 --> 00:33:07.579 only one master's program where they teach classical 00:33:07.579 --> 00:33:12.640 architecture and one track in Norway where students 00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:15.299 can do their own... a graduation project and 00:33:15.299 --> 00:33:17.539 learn classical. And for the rest, you have more 00:33:17.539 --> 00:33:19.059 and more schools in the United States teaching 00:33:19.059 --> 00:33:21.559 it. For the rest, there's only summer schools 00:33:21.559 --> 00:33:25.119 where you can go. So there's more and more summer 00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:27.279 schools of traditional architecture and urbanism 00:33:27.279 --> 00:33:29.799 all across Europe and also now in the United 00:33:29.799 --> 00:33:32.819 States and in Mexico, where they're teaching 00:33:32.819 --> 00:33:35.420 this. In Brazil, there was also one. So it's 00:33:35.420 --> 00:33:40.230 really a growing movement. But I was also aware 00:33:40.230 --> 00:33:43.170 of this project problem and I started my own 00:33:43.170 --> 00:33:46.470 Academy with a static city Academy is just kind 00:33:46.470 --> 00:33:50.029 of an online on demand way to learn this from 00:33:50.029 --> 00:33:52.390 the comfort of your home because going to the 00:33:52.390 --> 00:33:56.730 summer school is I think the most was until now. 00:33:57.490 --> 00:34:02.250 The most. Yeah, let's say accessible way to to 00:34:02.250 --> 00:34:06.720 learn this because. Well. It's a short program. 00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:09.199 You can do it over summer and it's not like a 00:34:09.199 --> 00:34:11.039 full architectural course. So if you don't have 00:34:11.039 --> 00:34:13.900 all the time, you can learn a lot there, but 00:34:13.900 --> 00:34:16.539 still you have to get the tuition. It's like 00:34:16.539 --> 00:34:19.079 between 500 and a thousand euros, depending on 00:34:19.079 --> 00:34:21.599 where you go. You have to sometimes buy a ticket. 00:34:21.639 --> 00:34:23.480 If you come from the States, well, it costs another 00:34:23.480 --> 00:34:26.460 thousand euros. Or if you go, you know, to other 00:34:26.460 --> 00:34:28.619 country, it costs a couple of hundred euros at 00:34:28.619 --> 00:34:31.940 least. Then you have the, you need housing. So 00:34:31.940 --> 00:34:34.719 that can also cost like 500 or 600 or even more. 00:34:34.909 --> 00:34:38.250 depending on where you are. So that can easily 00:34:38.250 --> 00:34:44.389 be like 1500 or 2000 euros or dollars to do a 00:34:44.389 --> 00:34:48.510 summer school. And we made it super affordable 00:34:48.510 --> 00:34:52.389 so everybody can follow it. So that's a little 00:34:52.389 --> 00:34:56.769 bit of a plug there. The point is, who else is 00:34:56.769 --> 00:34:59.010 going to do it? Where can you learn it? And we 00:34:59.010 --> 00:35:01.469 wanted to give a little introduction. Of course, 00:35:01.469 --> 00:35:03.929 we cannot teach the full thing. We cannot teach 00:35:03.929 --> 00:35:08.789 everything. But we just wanted to make one little 00:35:08.789 --> 00:35:11.869 opportunity to learn as much as they can from 00:35:11.869 --> 00:35:14.829 the comfort of their own home, and also actually 00:35:14.829 --> 00:35:20.550 do exercises to draw architecture, to learn more 00:35:20.550 --> 00:35:22.710 about their built environment, and to understand 00:35:22.710 --> 00:35:28.610 these principles. But then, of course, I think 00:35:28.610 --> 00:35:30.730 some really great books are The Art of Classic 00:35:30.730 --> 00:35:37.090 Planning by Nir Buras. They have a great, uh, 00:35:37.130 --> 00:35:39.289 Academy to the classic planning Academy, which 00:35:39.289 --> 00:35:42.369 I also followed, which can also advise it's it's, 00:35:42.510 --> 00:35:46.050 uh, it's, they have like classes online, which 00:35:46.050 --> 00:35:49.030 are by a live teacher instead of just on demand, 00:35:49.710 --> 00:35:51.929 but really, really great to, to learn as well. 00:35:52.349 --> 00:35:54.750 Um, but yeah, I think those are the new offerings, 00:35:54.750 --> 00:35:56.510 you know, we're building our own institutions 00:35:56.510 --> 00:35:59.849 because universities don't teach it. So yeah, 00:35:59.909 --> 00:36:03.420 what are we going to do? Well, we'll make it 00:36:03.420 --> 00:36:06.659 ourselves. So maybe that's the reason why you 00:36:06.659 --> 00:36:09.559 launched your channel is because you were tired 00:36:09.559 --> 00:36:14.719 of waiting. Ah, exactly. And for me, I wanted 00:36:14.719 --> 00:36:16.900 to learn more about it. And I was frustrated 00:36:16.900 --> 00:36:18.860 that I didn't learn at the university. And for 00:36:18.860 --> 00:36:24.340 me, it's kind of like this kind of a quest of 00:36:24.340 --> 00:36:26.380 learning and then also immediately teaching what 00:36:26.380 --> 00:36:30.340 I learned. And sometimes I... I make mistakes. 00:36:30.579 --> 00:36:33.800 Sometimes things are not as accurate or I learn 00:36:33.800 --> 00:36:36.400 like, hey, there's a nuance here. For example, 00:36:36.500 --> 00:36:38.639 I think my concrete video was maybe a little 00:36:38.639 --> 00:36:42.559 bit too pessimistic about the longevity of concrete, 00:36:42.599 --> 00:36:46.940 but I still think that there are problems there. 00:36:47.760 --> 00:36:50.400 And okay, even if a building lasts for 100 years, 00:36:50.579 --> 00:36:55.360 there's some chemical processes that are just 00:36:55.360 --> 00:36:57.760 happening, like the carbonization of concrete. 00:36:59.230 --> 00:37:02.510 There is just a limited lifetime of those buildings, 00:37:02.769 --> 00:37:04.530 but some of them can really stand for a very 00:37:04.530 --> 00:37:08.110 long time and they still do. Especially with 00:37:08.110 --> 00:37:13.309 a very thick, very good cover of the concrete. 00:37:14.130 --> 00:37:17.550 It's a very thick depth of the concrete before 00:37:17.550 --> 00:37:21.789 the rebar. Buildings can last very long. But 00:37:21.789 --> 00:37:29.579 yeah, the point is, yeah, why does it take Yeah, 00:37:29.639 --> 00:37:32.539 you know, like we have this whole world of traditional 00:37:32.539 --> 00:37:37.699 architects and it feels sometimes weird to be 00:37:37.699 --> 00:37:40.780 one of the earlier ones with a YouTube channel 00:37:40.780 --> 00:37:44.039 because it was such an open door. It's so logical 00:37:44.039 --> 00:37:49.500 to talk about this. I don't know. It's interesting, 00:37:49.500 --> 00:37:53.559 but I'm really happy to share this because I 00:37:53.559 --> 00:37:58.170 really love the work of all these people. They 00:37:58.170 --> 00:38:01.349 find it nice that I show their projects and I 00:38:01.349 --> 00:38:04.210 like visiting them and filming those projects. 00:38:04.969 --> 00:38:07.210 And people watching the videos like learning 00:38:07.210 --> 00:38:09.469 about them. So it's kind of a win -win -win situation. 00:38:10.449 --> 00:38:13.929 Yeah, I sure did. I learned a lot from your videos. 00:38:16.170 --> 00:38:20.559 You were the first who openly said... As I know, 00:38:20.659 --> 00:38:22.400 you were the first who openly said that it's 00:38:22.400 --> 00:38:27.000 okay to love beauty, it's okay to seek it. It 00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:29.840 was the first time where my modernist training 00:38:29.840 --> 00:38:32.719 was, my modernist architect inside of my head 00:38:32.719 --> 00:38:35.199 was like, what are you doing? Why are you watching 00:38:35.199 --> 00:38:37.559 those videos? But I also have this classical 00:38:37.559 --> 00:38:39.960 architect in me that wanted to know more about 00:38:39.960 --> 00:38:44.139 this. I think what I love most is that you're 00:38:44.139 --> 00:38:47.690 also promoting a lot of hope. It's not just, 00:38:47.690 --> 00:38:53.590 oh, it's doom and gloom and we're all done for. 00:38:54.070 --> 00:38:57.210 It's like you presented projects that made it, 00:38:57.210 --> 00:39:01.250 that did it and that works. And that's what I 00:39:01.250 --> 00:39:04.110 find really interesting is that there is another 00:39:04.110 --> 00:39:09.690 way. Yeah. And because it's really, especially 00:39:09.690 --> 00:39:12.510 on the internet, like there's definitely a bit 00:39:12.510 --> 00:39:22.420 of an undertone or a clear You can very clearly 00:39:22.420 --> 00:39:27.179 notice there is some sort of a depressing, moody, 00:39:28.199 --> 00:39:33.260 hopeless vibe, let's say, on the internet. It's 00:39:33.260 --> 00:39:35.079 all doomed and we're all going to die and it's 00:39:35.079 --> 00:39:37.679 going to be terrible. But that's not the fool. 00:39:38.099 --> 00:39:42.039 It misses the optimist's angle and there is an 00:39:42.039 --> 00:39:43.980 alternative and I think we should not just give 00:39:43.980 --> 00:39:47.269 up. we should try to improve things. And I sometimes 00:39:47.269 --> 00:39:50.769 also lose hope when I walk around a whole district 00:39:50.769 --> 00:39:53.750 of a city here that has been ruined. And that's 00:39:53.750 --> 00:39:57.210 probably not going to be nice for another couple 00:39:57.210 --> 00:39:59.530 of decades when they start demolishing the stuff 00:39:59.530 --> 00:40:05.789 that has degraded. But it's kind of like a battle 00:40:05.789 --> 00:40:09.309 that takes longer than your own life, probably. 00:40:10.710 --> 00:40:14.820 And maybe you'll only see results in decades, 00:40:15.599 --> 00:40:19.320 but you just need to keep pushing. Because one 00:40:19.320 --> 00:40:24.780 day maybe another generation might enjoy it. 00:40:25.320 --> 00:40:27.760 And I think if you have the opportunity to spread 00:40:27.760 --> 00:40:29.760 hope, then you should, because that's better 00:40:29.760 --> 00:40:33.480 than just spreading doom and gloom. And people 00:40:33.480 --> 00:40:40.460 need some hope. I don't really like just... I 00:40:40.460 --> 00:40:42.199 don't know, just being negative about things 00:40:42.199 --> 00:40:44.780 and not having any clear direction. Like, you 00:40:44.780 --> 00:40:45.940 know, okay, there's a problem. Okay, what am 00:40:45.940 --> 00:40:50.420 I going to do about the problem? Yeah, there 00:40:50.420 --> 00:40:53.920 needs to be some action in the direction of improvement. 00:40:54.320 --> 00:40:59.599 And I think what I find interesting is that I 00:40:59.599 --> 00:41:04.400 wonder the regular architectural world, have 00:41:04.400 --> 00:41:08.829 they really fully woken up yet to this? I do 00:41:08.829 --> 00:41:11.250 sometimes get a nasty comment on YouTube, but 00:41:11.250 --> 00:41:13.730 I don't get enormous attacks. Well, knock on 00:41:13.730 --> 00:41:16.289 wood, but it seems they're just ignoring it for 00:41:16.289 --> 00:41:26.429 now. I just wonder, do they know that there is 00:41:26.429 --> 00:41:30.289 a stronger and stronger movement towards the 00:41:30.289 --> 00:41:32.349 alternative? I think it's because it's still 00:41:32.349 --> 00:41:35.769 such early days that Um, there hasn't really 00:41:35.769 --> 00:41:37.710 been an awakening yet, but you can notice that 00:41:37.710 --> 00:41:40.849 people like Thomas Heatherwick are changing course 00:41:40.849 --> 00:41:44.829 because they notice the winds changing. And I 00:41:44.829 --> 00:41:49.389 think it would be, I think, um, yeah, it can 00:41:49.389 --> 00:41:52.750 go very fast as well. Suddenly. If, if I think 00:41:52.750 --> 00:41:56.469 if one or two, uh, big architecture firms suddenly 00:41:56.469 --> 00:41:59.809 start doing classical stuff, then I think it 00:41:59.809 --> 00:42:02.110 will go very fast because a lot of other firms. 00:42:02.639 --> 00:42:07.460 They just follow. Yeah. And I can tell you that 00:42:07.460 --> 00:42:10.940 young generation of architects, I'll talk about 00:42:10.940 --> 00:42:13.559 my generation, but when I talk to my friends 00:42:13.559 --> 00:42:16.059 and right now we're just like junior architects 00:42:16.059 --> 00:42:20.059 in some firms to gain experience, we're not happy 00:42:20.059 --> 00:42:25.900 with... the way architecture seemed to be going. 00:42:27.300 --> 00:42:30.599 And I can say also, maybe it can be an interesting 00:42:30.599 --> 00:42:33.940 point of view that, you know, I'm from Morocco 00:42:33.940 --> 00:42:37.940 and I plan to go back to it to have my architecture 00:42:37.940 --> 00:42:42.320 studio there. And, you know, Morocco and also 00:42:42.320 --> 00:42:46.739 Africa as a whole continent, they are in a time 00:42:46.739 --> 00:42:51.739 where in a great expansion time with a lot of 00:42:51.739 --> 00:42:55.019 new cities going to be built, a lot of infrastructure. 00:42:55.679 --> 00:42:58.619 And more and more we, at first we were repeating 00:42:58.619 --> 00:43:01.880 the mistakes of the West because we had this 00:43:01.880 --> 00:43:04.500 idea that the West was better. It was the way 00:43:04.500 --> 00:43:09.300 modernism was the way. And slowly and more and 00:43:09.300 --> 00:43:12.599 more, we're getting a lot of appreciation to 00:43:12.599 --> 00:43:16.179 our traditions, our old ways of building, that 00:43:16.179 --> 00:43:18.980 we had some wisdom there, that we have some very 00:43:18.980 --> 00:43:22.440 strong, in Morocco we have some very strong weather, 00:43:22.900 --> 00:43:27.840 very harsh, very strong. And we have to adapt 00:43:27.840 --> 00:43:31.400 to it. And it's clear that modern architecture, 00:43:31.500 --> 00:43:34.340 if we just repeat it, cannot respond to that. 00:43:35.019 --> 00:43:38.019 So a lot of architects are choosing to go the 00:43:38.019 --> 00:43:41.300 other way. We have Atelier Béheux, who built 00:43:41.300 --> 00:43:47.440 the first earth pizze house in a regulated urban 00:43:47.440 --> 00:43:51.820 space in Marrakech. We have Salima Najee or Aziza 00:43:51.820 --> 00:43:59.480 Shawnee, which were two architects that rebuilt 00:43:59.480 --> 00:44:06.099 vernacular houses in the unfortunate houses that 00:44:06.099 --> 00:44:09.159 were destroyed in Al -Haus with the earthquake 00:44:09.159 --> 00:44:12.039 there. So they rebuilt the house in a traditional 00:44:12.039 --> 00:44:16.920 yet modern way. So we have that kind of huge 00:44:16.920 --> 00:44:20.710 uprisings of architect who wants to go back to 00:44:20.710 --> 00:44:25.090 the roots and wants to express it. So, I think 00:44:25.090 --> 00:44:29.929 maybe we'll see a change. I think, yeah. Also, 00:44:30.170 --> 00:44:32.849 you talked about the new generation and I think 00:44:32.849 --> 00:44:35.630 there is a very clear sign that things are changing 00:44:35.630 --> 00:44:40.429 because there's so many young people now. I noticed 00:44:40.429 --> 00:44:42.670 so much interest in the summer schools, so much 00:44:42.670 --> 00:44:44.369 interest in, well, because of the videos, of 00:44:44.369 --> 00:44:47.590 course, but also in this academy we do. And in 00:44:47.590 --> 00:44:56.010 my Discord community, for example, there's a 00:44:56.010 --> 00:45:00.210 lot of young people who are building stuff with 00:45:00.210 --> 00:45:03.329 Minecraft and Roblox Studio. There's a whole 00:45:03.329 --> 00:45:07.949 video game inspired generation who see beautiful 00:45:07.949 --> 00:45:11.250 games like Assassin's Creed and amazing virtual 00:45:11.250 --> 00:45:13.070 environments where all this beauty is possible. 00:45:13.170 --> 00:45:14.670 And then they enter the real world and like, 00:45:14.809 --> 00:45:17.789 why is this so ugly? So there's this, they're, 00:45:18.090 --> 00:45:20.050 they're like, well, why can't we, you know, like 00:45:20.050 --> 00:45:22.570 I can build it in Roblox. Why can I build it 00:45:22.570 --> 00:45:24.289 in real life? And they want to learn more about 00:45:24.289 --> 00:45:27.909 it. And they, uh, strongly gravitate towards 00:45:27.909 --> 00:45:31.889 this, this, these traditions. Um, and I think 00:45:31.889 --> 00:45:35.769 it's maybe some do it out of nostalgia. Some 00:45:35.769 --> 00:45:38.530 just because they like it better, you know, it's 00:45:38.530 --> 00:45:42.280 very simple. I just like it better. Um, and I 00:45:42.280 --> 00:45:46.920 think the, um, the ideological, uh, the strength 00:45:46.920 --> 00:45:52.539 of the ideological, um, um, yeah, uh, influence 00:45:52.539 --> 00:45:56.599 of modernism is waning because I think the, the 00:45:56.599 --> 00:46:01.460 baby boomer generation is still very, uh, they're, 00:46:01.519 --> 00:46:04.800 I think they're most pro modernism because yeah, 00:46:04.860 --> 00:46:07.699 they grew up with this idea of that, that there's 00:46:07.699 --> 00:46:10.230 progress and that's the future. But the new generations, 00:46:10.489 --> 00:46:14.929 they see what horrific places that has led to. 00:46:15.050 --> 00:46:16.829 And they see, well, maybe there's an alternative 00:46:16.829 --> 00:46:24.250 way. So they don't really care that much about 00:46:24.250 --> 00:46:27.170 modernist architecture. So I think with this 00:46:27.170 --> 00:46:29.269 new generation, there's going to be a major shift. 00:46:30.750 --> 00:46:33.570 Only I think the universities will be too late 00:46:33.570 --> 00:46:38.590 to catch up on it. That is, well, a responsibility 00:46:38.590 --> 00:46:41.590 then, I think, for new players to jump in that 00:46:41.590 --> 00:46:45.070 hole until universities start to see, oh, maybe 00:46:45.070 --> 00:46:48.969 we should course correct. What I find, what I 00:46:48.969 --> 00:46:52.550 cannot understand is why universities don't teach 00:46:52.550 --> 00:46:55.309 it, teach traditions or teach classical architecture 00:46:55.309 --> 00:47:00.750 or at least offer it because it's just such a 00:47:00.750 --> 00:47:04.929 large part of our architectural heritage. It 00:47:04.929 --> 00:47:07.630 can still be used for modern buildings. You know, 00:47:07.630 --> 00:47:10.469 you can still mix it and it could even lead to 00:47:10.469 --> 00:47:13.210 very exciting new types of buildings, but it's 00:47:13.210 --> 00:47:16.150 also just fair to have to offer all the ways 00:47:16.150 --> 00:47:19.190 of view. It's very, they always say, yeah, we're 00:47:19.190 --> 00:47:21.809 very tolerant of all these ideas, but in how 00:47:21.809 --> 00:47:24.650 can you be tolerant of ideas? If you reject one 00:47:24.650 --> 00:47:29.389 idea outright, you know, yeah, it's not, it's 00:47:29.389 --> 00:47:32.150 not tolerant at all. It's just saying you're 00:47:32.150 --> 00:47:35.449 tolerant, but not being it. Yeah. It's the idea 00:47:35.449 --> 00:47:41.750 of letting go of the past. They don't see that 00:47:41.750 --> 00:47:45.329 the past is a repository of useful ideas that 00:47:45.329 --> 00:47:48.590 you can use for a better future and you can recombine 00:47:48.590 --> 00:47:51.929 them. There are so many new styles that could 00:47:51.929 --> 00:47:56.949 be invented. I saw a beautiful Twitter or X thread 00:47:56.949 --> 00:48:05.619 on Grecofuturism. There's this whole, there are 00:48:05.619 --> 00:48:08.980 so many cool styles and types of architecture 00:48:08.980 --> 00:48:11.460 that could be unlocked and could be developed, 00:48:12.860 --> 00:48:16.159 but that aren't because there is a whole avenue 00:48:16.159 --> 00:48:22.280 closed off. Yeah. But we are kind of seeing that 00:48:22.280 --> 00:48:26.300 in design as well. You know, people are tired. 00:48:26.559 --> 00:48:29.139 If I take the example of cause, we had a very, 00:48:29.159 --> 00:48:32.949 we have a The pinnacle of modernist car is the 00:48:32.949 --> 00:48:36.929 Tesla. It's a very sleek, very simple design. 00:48:37.230 --> 00:48:40.230 No buttons, just a screen. Everything is tactile. 00:48:41.230 --> 00:48:44.010 And people, the majority of people, hate it. 00:48:45.230 --> 00:48:48.519 They... feel the need to have buttons, to have 00:48:48.519 --> 00:48:52.079 cogs, to have things to play with. And we can 00:48:52.079 --> 00:48:58.420 see it making a return. We see retro -inspired 00:48:58.420 --> 00:49:03.199 cars, we see more functional design with a bit 00:49:03.199 --> 00:49:06.059 more buttons, we see industrial design is coming 00:49:06.059 --> 00:49:11.579 back to a more... Just tactile? Yeah, tactile. 00:49:12.309 --> 00:49:15.690 returning back to what really worked in the past 00:49:15.690 --> 00:49:19.010 and bringing it, fusing it with what we have 00:49:19.010 --> 00:49:27.449 today. Exactly. The strong focus on touchscreens 00:49:27.449 --> 00:49:34.349 and everything digital, people like knobs and 00:49:34.349 --> 00:49:37.250 people like direct access, but I think the case 00:49:37.250 --> 00:49:41.800 of Tesla, there is a... There are some odds that 00:49:41.800 --> 00:49:44.980 we won't even need to touch the steering wheel 00:49:44.980 --> 00:49:48.460 any longer in a couple of years. So then the 00:49:48.460 --> 00:49:50.400 screen just literally becomes a TV. I think that 00:49:50.400 --> 00:49:53.199 was their whole philosophy behind it. But indeed, 00:49:53.920 --> 00:49:57.139 I think it was Hyundai with their super retro 00:49:57.139 --> 00:50:00.480 electric models, like the black station car. 00:50:01.119 --> 00:50:03.699 I mean, I would want that car. It's so cool. 00:50:04.300 --> 00:50:08.500 And Renault is doing it as well. They took the 00:50:08.500 --> 00:50:13.139 old design of the R6 and made it a retro futuristic 00:50:13.139 --> 00:50:16.679 model that is available right now. You can see 00:50:16.679 --> 00:50:18.820 it in the street of Paris and those are very 00:50:18.820 --> 00:50:22.500 colorful cars. It would be interesting also to 00:50:22.500 --> 00:50:25.900 speak about the subject of colors maybe as a 00:50:25.900 --> 00:50:28.880 final section. That's a very good topic because 00:50:28.880 --> 00:50:33.119 everything is losing color. It seems like everything 00:50:33.119 --> 00:50:39.079 is becoming sad, gray, beige. And I mean, if 00:50:39.079 --> 00:50:43.199 you just look at pictures of like the past, I 00:50:43.199 --> 00:50:49.219 mean, from McDonald's to cars, everything was 00:50:49.219 --> 00:50:51.860 so colorful and now everything's getting gray 00:50:51.860 --> 00:50:53.920 and black and you see those graphs or you see 00:50:53.920 --> 00:50:57.260 the number of colors. I'll put it on the screen. 00:50:57.800 --> 00:51:03.260 Yeah. Yeah. So it is true. And I think in architecture, 00:51:03.840 --> 00:51:07.360 we see it as well. More and more cold colors. 00:51:08.059 --> 00:51:13.519 Well, I think, you know, maybe we need brighter 00:51:13.519 --> 00:51:15.920 colors. It's like the same with the medieval 00:51:15.920 --> 00:51:18.440 filter in a lot of movies, where they put this, 00:51:18.440 --> 00:51:21.920 the gray, blue, the bluish dirt filter over all 00:51:21.920 --> 00:51:26.519 those. Look as if it's. And then you look at 00:51:26.519 --> 00:51:28.980 medieval city like films from medieval times 00:51:28.980 --> 00:51:32.559 or about the medieval times from the 60s and 00:51:32.559 --> 00:51:35.519 50s and everything is super colorful, which was 00:51:35.519 --> 00:51:38.139 probably more accurate to how it really was. 00:51:39.059 --> 00:51:42.159 But in architecture also, I think warmer colors 00:51:42.159 --> 00:51:46.699 are more liked than colder colors. And I think 00:51:46.699 --> 00:51:50.139 in Sweden, you have those beautiful Swedish grace 00:51:50.139 --> 00:51:53.780 buildings with all this pastel colors. And in 00:51:53.780 --> 00:51:57.059 Athens, they have the beautiful yellow hues and 00:51:57.059 --> 00:52:00.519 a bit of pink here and there. And I think, yeah, 00:52:00.820 --> 00:52:03.659 maybe also in Palmbury, you see some new homes 00:52:03.659 --> 00:52:08.079 with those beautiful pastel colors. I think it's 00:52:08.079 --> 00:52:10.960 important to introduce a little bit of extra 00:52:10.960 --> 00:52:15.260 color, but I think it's just very, yeah, it depends, 00:52:15.300 --> 00:52:18.090 of course, on the country where you are. But 00:52:18.090 --> 00:52:19.989 isn't Morocco where you have the blue village? 00:52:20.750 --> 00:52:24.570 Yeah, in the mountains, you have blue village 00:52:24.570 --> 00:52:29.230 and also Marrakesh is very orange, Bam is white, 00:52:29.469 --> 00:52:33.789 Casablanca is another color. Also in Lisbon, 00:52:34.510 --> 00:52:39.409 they have really bright colors, red, yellow, 00:52:40.050 --> 00:52:44.750 sometimes white. And the tiles. Yeah, the tiles. 00:52:47.780 --> 00:52:55.159 Yeah, it's I think I think just what What the 00:52:55.159 --> 00:52:57.659 problem is nowadays is that if you're gonna build 00:52:57.659 --> 00:53:00.760 mostly with glass and concrete well, they have 00:53:00.760 --> 00:53:04.739 They're either gray or a bit of bluish, but they're 00:53:04.739 --> 00:53:07.099 exactly that color that is taking over everything 00:53:07.099 --> 00:53:10.059 So we just need to clad a little bit less with 00:53:10.059 --> 00:53:12.719 concrete and but I do see some cool projects 00:53:12.719 --> 00:53:15.889 with like you can do amazing things with terracotta 00:53:15.889 --> 00:53:22.130 tiles. I think one of the biggest misunderstandings 00:53:22.130 --> 00:53:24.949 with my channel and me and my philosophy is that 00:53:24.949 --> 00:53:27.849 they think that I want to go back to the past 00:53:27.849 --> 00:53:35.690 or back to some eternal 19th century with endlessly 00:53:35.690 --> 00:53:39.530 mass -produced Glasgow buildings. What I really 00:53:39.530 --> 00:53:45.320 want is that we get so many good architects who 00:53:45.320 --> 00:53:48.460 really understand the language of past architecture, 00:53:48.780 --> 00:53:51.699 like to understand the principles behind traditional 00:53:51.699 --> 00:53:54.760 architecture, that they can apply those principles 00:53:54.760 --> 00:53:58.880 to create new types of buildings that are super 00:53:58.880 --> 00:54:01.679 interesting and innovative, like a new, that 00:54:01.679 --> 00:54:05.900 we get new styles again, like a new kind of, 00:54:05.900 --> 00:54:08.219 yeah, machine, maybe a new kind of art deco, 00:54:08.239 --> 00:54:11.570 for example, or a new art and noodle. to blend 00:54:11.570 --> 00:54:14.070 those styles and true creativity with those styles. 00:54:14.409 --> 00:54:17.650 But for that, you need to understand classical 00:54:17.650 --> 00:54:21.590 proportions, because that's your rule book to 00:54:21.590 --> 00:54:24.769 play by. And if you don't follow those rules, 00:54:24.929 --> 00:54:26.809 well, that's the whole point of modernism, that 00:54:26.809 --> 00:54:30.130 you don't need to follow the rules. But if you 00:54:30.130 --> 00:54:32.210 follow those rules and make new things with it, 00:54:32.230 --> 00:54:34.630 that's still creative and still innovative, only 00:54:34.630 --> 00:54:38.650 you're not let free totally like a toddler riding 00:54:38.650 --> 00:54:41.849 on the walls. do whatever you want, it's all 00:54:41.849 --> 00:54:52.110 okay. It is ultimate freedom, but ultimate freedom 00:54:52.110 --> 00:54:56.250 is not always the best for everyone because that 00:54:56.250 --> 00:54:59.650 means that someone's freedom limits someone else's 00:54:59.650 --> 00:55:02.489 freedom or leads to a conflict with someone else. 00:55:03.510 --> 00:55:06.130 If you give me all the freedom that I can do, 00:55:06.130 --> 00:55:10.150 that I can do everything what I want, I could 00:55:10.150 --> 00:55:12.590 go run in the streets and I don't know, stab 00:55:12.590 --> 00:55:19.469 people, you know? But that's not good for those 00:55:19.469 --> 00:55:23.070 people who suffer because of that. So we have 00:55:23.070 --> 00:55:29.150 rules to kind of keep civilization together. 00:55:30.849 --> 00:55:33.170 And I think the same is true with buildings. 00:55:33.469 --> 00:55:37.110 We had some rules like, this is what you tend 00:55:37.110 --> 00:55:39.619 to do. use this rule book within this rule book, 00:55:39.719 --> 00:55:42.800 you can do whatever, but don't like just ignore 00:55:42.800 --> 00:55:46.360 the rules because you get chaos. And you get 00:55:46.360 --> 00:55:48.880 these buildings that are not humble. They all 00:55:48.880 --> 00:55:53.380 fight for attention. But with Molossus, it's 00:55:53.380 --> 00:55:56.280 like, no, you are the king. You can do whatever 00:55:56.280 --> 00:55:59.059 you want. As long as someone pays for it, everything 00:55:59.059 --> 00:56:02.380 is okay. And it's kind of, it reduced the civility 00:56:02.380 --> 00:56:07.019 and the kind of mutual respect of those buildings. 00:56:07.869 --> 00:56:10.969 And it doesn't come from a place of humbleness, 00:56:11.030 --> 00:56:17.110 but of arrogance. Ego. Yeah, exactly. And the 00:56:17.110 --> 00:56:19.510 egos of the architect can be inflated endlessly 00:56:19.510 --> 00:56:22.889 to build whatever they want and impose that on 00:56:22.889 --> 00:56:26.070 other people and, well, ruin their day with an 00:56:26.070 --> 00:56:27.889 ugly building that people have to see every day 00:56:27.889 --> 00:56:31.010 of their life for 50 years if they live opposite 00:56:31.010 --> 00:56:33.610 of it. And they don't have skin in the game because 00:56:33.610 --> 00:56:36.849 they don't live opposite of it themselves. They 00:56:36.849 --> 00:56:41.150 rent traditional offices and they often live 00:56:41.150 --> 00:56:46.570 in traditional houses themselves. There is hypocrisy 00:56:46.570 --> 00:56:50.909 there and a sort of egoistic behavior that I 00:56:50.909 --> 00:57:01.329 think isn't really ethical or correct. I'm pushing 00:57:01.329 --> 00:57:04.889 for the same thing with my channel. I want to 00:57:04.889 --> 00:57:08.099 make architecture more accessible and also push 00:57:08.099 --> 00:57:11.780 for a more local architecture because yeah when 00:57:11.780 --> 00:57:13.619 you go to another country the first thing you 00:57:13.619 --> 00:57:17.059 want to experience is the food and the architecture 00:57:17.059 --> 00:57:19.340 I mean those two are the primary when you come 00:57:19.340 --> 00:57:23.199 to Paris you don't go to like the new to la défense 00:57:23.199 --> 00:57:27.320 to the new very modern neighborhood you go for 00:57:27.320 --> 00:57:29.460 the center you go to see the Louvre you go to 00:57:29.460 --> 00:57:32.099 see You got to see the old Paris when you go 00:57:32.099 --> 00:57:33.760 to Lisbon, when you go to Morocco, when you go 00:57:33.760 --> 00:57:36.679 to any country, you want to see the very special 00:57:36.679 --> 00:57:41.760 places. What makes the culture there. Exactly. 00:57:43.019 --> 00:57:47.059 And maybe it's what we can hope for. It's maybe 00:57:47.059 --> 00:57:50.579 a return to those more local expression of architecture, 00:57:50.699 --> 00:57:52.619 which has the results of the environment and 00:57:52.619 --> 00:57:56.119 not the other way around. Exactly. The true richness 00:57:56.119 --> 00:57:59.960 of all those. local differences because that's 00:57:59.960 --> 00:58:02.420 the nice thing. We don't only have differences 00:58:02.420 --> 00:58:05.940 over time in style. We also have differences 00:58:05.940 --> 00:58:09.559 between countries and all these different cultures 00:58:09.559 --> 00:58:13.880 who developed their own unique types of architecture, 00:58:13.940 --> 00:58:17.460 which is super exciting. It's like every country 00:58:17.460 --> 00:58:20.320 you go to, it's like a new planet. It's like 00:58:20.320 --> 00:58:22.659 you're in Star Wars and you drop down with your 00:58:22.659 --> 00:58:25.090 ship and there's a whole new civilization. It's 00:58:25.090 --> 00:58:27.409 so cool. And it's such a shame that everything 00:58:27.409 --> 00:58:31.710 becomes the same. Yeah. And here's to fight against 00:58:31.710 --> 00:58:35.969 it. Well, Ruben, I appreciate you a lot. Thank 00:58:35.969 --> 00:58:39.090 you so much for the discussion today. It was 00:58:39.090 --> 00:58:41.130 amazing. Yeah. Thank you so much for inviting 00:58:41.130 --> 00:58:45.809 me. Yeah. Well, with pleasure. I can spend two 00:58:45.809 --> 00:58:49.309 or three hours more talking about it because 00:58:49.309 --> 00:58:51.309 let's face it, we're really passionate about 00:58:51.309 --> 00:58:55.420 it. Now, I would say it's your time. Where can 00:58:55.420 --> 00:58:58.199 people go to find out more about you and what 00:58:58.199 --> 00:59:01.300 you do? Yeah, so I have my website, of course, 00:59:01.579 --> 00:59:05.119 theaestheticcity .com. You have my YouTube channel, 00:59:05.119 --> 00:59:08.480 of course. Just type in theaestheticcity and 00:59:08.480 --> 00:59:11.980 you'll find it. And my X page, of course, same 00:59:11.980 --> 00:59:14.019 thing there. Just type it in, you'll find it. 00:59:14.579 --> 00:59:18.380 And of course, if you want to learn about all 00:59:18.380 --> 00:59:20.119 this stuff and you're interested in following 00:59:20.119 --> 00:59:25.199 the course, We have that available until about 00:59:25.199 --> 00:59:29.480 the end of July. I can give you a link where 00:59:29.480 --> 00:59:32.519 you can go and we also have a discount if you 00:59:32.519 --> 00:59:38.539 want to join. I think that would be really great 00:59:38.539 --> 00:59:41.320 to see you in there. Thank you for watching this 00:59:41.320 --> 00:59:43.780 video. If you liked it, please drop a like and 00:59:43.780 --> 00:59:46.139 subscribe to this channel. It helps a lot. You 00:59:46.139 --> 00:59:50.239 can find my other videos right there. See you 00:59:50.239 --> 00:59:50.760 next time!