Common Edge

An even more extreme response to modernism is Ann Sussman's claim that it originated from trauma and mental illness: https://commonedge.org/the-mental-disorders-that-gave-us-modern-archit… Although I agree with her that traditional, ornamental design is more beautiful, something bothers me about her line of argument; it seems cheap and patronizing to take ideas expressed with rigor and good faith by talented people and dismiss them w/o engaging them intellectually. Nevertheless, its an interesting point of view

Here's an explanation I found persuasive for why the 60's and 70's buildings don't appeal to many of us: https://commonedge.org/the-mental-disorders-that-gave-us-modern-archit… In short, the designers of these buildings experienced trauma during the wars that changed their brains, in a way that makes human features upsetting. Most buildings reference human features in some way (mouth, eyes), and this modernism avoids that and calms their brains. It aligns nicely with the astute observation about the windows, in that they humanize these large buildings.

The Mental Disorders that Gave Us Modern Architecture https://commonedge.org/the-mental-disorders-that-gave-us-modern-archit…

I'm the author of this article. These are good questions and comments; evolution's preset the way we take in surroundings and brain can't 'fixate' or focus on glassy facades; eye-tracking studies and emulation software used in article, show this. You can read more studies showing this here: https://geneticsofdesign.com/2019/07/07/why-eye-track-boston-city-hall… And here: https://commonedge.org/game-changing-eye-tracking-studies-reveal-how-w… And if you're curious about why modern architecture is 'avoidant' here: https://commonedge.org/the-mental-disorders-that-gave-us-modern-archit… LMK if you have questions; always open to discussing.

I'm sorry, but your photos depict exactly what I am talking about. Those streets that the cars are crowding down are narrow (to an American) with barely enough room for two lanes of traffic. Cars are parked with two wheels on the sidewalk. And even in the "hellscape" era, every door was a different storefront. The streets may have been "redesigned around cars," but the distance between the buildings remained the same. And the buildings were built for small-scale stores on the bottom. This is what makes it feel like a neighborhood. The conversion back to a pedestrian/bike heaven was natural, because the size of the streets was made for exactly that. Compare to a modern neighborhood built around 5-over-1s [1], [2]. The streets are 5x as wide -- often four lanes of traffic and two lanes of bike lanes. And the ground floor is often built for a single store, like a large clothing department store. There's no reason to walk down this street, except to get from point A to point B. Even if you decided to eliminate cars, the streets simply wouldn't make sense as a pedestrian area. They're too big, too exposed. It would feel like walking in an industrial zone. It's not strictly the way 5-over-1s are designed, it's the way the streets are designed, and the way commercial space is designed. 1. https://commonedge.org/in-praise-of-5-over-1-buildings/ 2. https://commonedge.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/mid-rise-wood-frame-…