Archinect - News

Critic Roger Bevan on the rise of caustic Traditionalism in city planning

2022-01-07T19:51:00-05:00

Traditionalist lunatics have succeeded in taking over the asylum. Reactionary ideas hostile to the cosmopolitan, to Modernism, to modernity itself, are in the ascendant.

The UK is one of many countries currently besieged by a right-wing movement to force parochial worldviews onto society via their integration into the built environment. The race-baiting views about architecture and city planning have extended into draconian laws punishing those caught defacing public monuments (although recently some have been more fortunate) in an echo of similar controversies including Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s appointments to the British Museum and BBC, which is now under pressure by conservatives to once again play the national anthem on a daily basis.

Bevan traced the popular movement from America to France and back again, stating that it has roots in the design fundamentals championed by Prince Charles for sometime.

“Traditionalist city-making ideas have been brewing for some time, now pushed by right-wing think-tanks such as the Policy Exchange and Legatum Institute, who are hostile to both public housing and fetters on the market, and whose adherents a...

Scott Merrill wins the 2016 Driehaus Prize

2016-01-20T14:29:00-05:00

Scott Merrill, an architect known for his originality and creative application of architectural precedents, has been named the recipient of the 2016 Richard H. Driehaus Prize at the University of Notre Dame. Merrill, the 14th Driehaus Prize laureate, will be awarded the $200,000 prize and a bronze miniature of the Choregic Monument of Lysikrates during a ceremony on March 19 (Saturday) in Chicago.

Scott Merril, the founder and principal designer of Merrill, Pastor & Colgan in Vero Beach Florida, has been awarded the 2016 Richard H. Driehaus Prize at the University of Notre Dame.

Now in it's 14th year, the Driehaus Prize is something like an alternative Pritzker awarded to "a living architect whose work embodies the highest ideals of traditional and classical architecture in contemporary society, and creates a positive cultural, environmental, and artistic impact."

Initiated by the fund manager and philanthropist Richard Driehaus, the Prize comes with a $200,000 check – about double the amount awarded with the Pritzker.

"The jury’s selection of Scott Merrill as the 2016 Driehaus Prize laureate brings into focus his remarkable ability to apply the principles of traditional architecture to a wide variety of building types while integrating unique regional identities,” Driehaus stated in the award announcement. “His work beautifully demonstrates the inherent versatility of tradition...

When Did the Art World Get So Conservative?

2014-11-17T15:32:00-05:00

How did we come to live in an insular tribal sphere where unwritten rules and rigid moralities — about whom to like and dislike, what is permissible to say and what must remain unsaid — are strictly enforced via social media and online disapproval, much of it anonymous? When did this band of gypsies and relentless radicals get so conservative?

Could this be translated to architecture? Sure thing... I think architecture has a built in conservatism to begin with. Just look what the architects are pooling for.., fighting territories for things those really don't matter, blaming each other for handrail details and teaching values of the empire while reinforcing its own specialized elitism to keep the trouble makers out. Look at the corporate schools, corporate offices and architects who offer nothing more than a fantasy drawings packaged as radicals riding on intern labored marketing renderings.

Who is kidding whom?