One of the questions that has most bothered me in my reflections on culture is the question of kitsch. Just what is it? When did it begin? And why?
Roger ScrutonRead
Modernist buildings exclude dialogue, and the void that they create around themselves is not a public space but a desertification
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques modernist architecture for isolating itself and failing to foster public interaction.
Roger Scruton argues that modernist buildings often create an atmosphere of exclusion, leading to spaces that do not invite dialogue or community engagement. Instead of becoming lively public areas where relationships can flourish, these structures contribute to a sense of emptiness and desolation, making the surroundings feel more like a desert than an accessible and welcoming environment.
Themes
ArchitectureModernismPublic SpaceDialogueDesign
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about urban planning, this quote can be used to emphasize the importance of creating inviting public spaces.
More from Roger Scruton
All quotes βThere are big questions science doesn't answer, such as why is there something rather than nothing? There can't be a scientific answer to that because it's the answer that precedes science.
Roger ScrutonRead
18th century opera is packed with emotion, but contains not a trace of kitsch. Only with the 'thees' and 'thous' of Victorian poetry does the disease begin to grow in our poetic tradition.
Roger ScrutonRead
The robust English view used to be that the correct response to offensive words is to ignore them, or to answer them with a rebuke. If you invoke the law at all, it should be to protect the one who gives the offence, and not the one who takes it. Now, it seems, it is all the other way round.
Roger ScrutonRead
For two centuries the English countryside has been an icon of national identity and the loved reminder of our island home. Yet the government is bent on littering the hills with wind turbines and the valleys with high speed railways.
Roger ScrutonRead
You cannot own a symphony or a novel in the way you can own a Damien Hirst. As a result there are far fewer fake symphonies or fake novels than there are fake works of visual art.
Roger ScrutonRead
Similar quotes
It is difficult to design a space that will not attract people. What is remarkable is how often this has been accomplished.
William H. WhyteRead
Architects mostly work for privileged people, people who have money and power. Power and money are invisible, so people hire us to visualize their power and money by making monumental architecture. I love to make monuments, too, but I thought perhaps we can use our experience and knowledge more for the general public, even for those who have lost their houses in natural disasters.
Shigeru BanRead
My passion and great enjoyment for architecture, and the reason the older I get the more I enjoy it, is because I believe we - architects - can effect the quality of life of the people.
Richard RogersRead
Contemporary architects tend to impose modernity on something. There is a certain concern for history but itβs not very deep. I understand that time has changed, we have evolved. But I donβt want to forget the beginning. A lasting architecture has to have roots.
I. M. PeiRead
We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.
Winston ChurchillRead
We used to build temples, and museums are about as close as secular society dares to go in facing up to the idea that a good building can change your life (and a bad one ruin it).
Alain De BottonRead