Architecture as statements

Jan Thews was quoted by Statens Fastighetsverk as saying the following: “Palaces are built to impress and overwhelm. This is not what Sweden desires. We want to come across as a democratic country where equality rules. For the same cost, we can achieve a building more along the lines of what Sweden wishes to represent,” says Jan Thews, architect and director of property services abroad and head of the Foreign division at the National Property Board.

Sweden has other voices, I believe, that reflect more than a simple denial of the grandeur and beauty of its classical, romantic, and jugendstil lines. Is it true that architecture of today is not built to impress and overwhelm? What is it that overwhelms us? Size, proportions, dimensions, materials, design, use?

I very much enjoyed reading an written last year by Roger Scruton, an American public policy scholar. Called The High Cost of Ignoring Beauty, the article has captured the attention of many young architects.

Vad tycker ni?

On a lecture last week in Umeå school of architecture I was told that in the past architecture was one of the few ways to make a statement about yourself. If a king wanted to show his power to the people he did it by building a big and beautiful palace in the middle of the city. The need for that type of architecture is much less today when you can express yourself trough all kinds of media...