Are mental disorders behind modernism? Le Corbusier and Gropius get diagnosed

2018-02-08T13:53:00-05:00

Two researchers recently suggested that autism and post-traumatic stress disorder led to the minimalist stylings of Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius. Their questions and tools are useful, but there’s danger in mistaking one piece of a puzzle for its entirety. The places we inhabit influence the way we see the world [...] Equally and inevitably, psychology has shaped architecture.

Darran Anderson responds to the piece “The Mental Disorders that Gave Us Modern Architecture” by Ann Sussman and Katie Chen, arguing against their totalizing narrative of two influential figures and modernism as a whole.

Sussman and Chen suggest modernist architecture originated from autism in regard to Le Corbusier, and post-traumatic stress disorder in regard to Walter Gropius. The final argument is one against modernism, claiming its origin derives from mental dysfunction.

While it is interesting to consider a possible excuse for Le Corbusier's callousness or the effects of serving in WWI on Gropius, Anderson argues, "the evidence that modern architecture is founded on 'disorders' is highly questionable".

His response reveals an empathetic side to Le Corbusier, and delves into Gropius' immense achievements unimpeded by trauma. Read the full article and go deeper into Anderson's argument for modernism and two of its key figures.

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Designing through cognitive architecture.

2017-12-11T02:16:00-05:00

Architects know best, as they often claim. With conviction, they’re sure certain details will make a space more hospitable, more beautiful, more preferable, and more enjoyable...But an emerging field of research is now uncovering and quantifying our psychological response to buildings: cognitive architecture. The hope is that by better understanding through science what exactly it is people like or dislike about our built environment, designers can truly improve it.

What does it mean to see a building? As we approach a building, what is that calls our attention? The door? The entry? That corner detail that is doing something we have never seen before?

Architect Ann Sussman and designer Janice M. Ward are two leading researchers studying how our brains see buildings. Their interest arose from their own observations and curiosity about how architects could create places that encouraged walkability and lingerability. Their results give us a glance into the fascinating and potentially freeing manner in which our brains and conscious really see architecture.

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Are mental disorders behind modernism? Le Corbusier and Gropius get diagnosed

Designing through cognitive architecture.