How many modernist buildings are there in the small town of the birthplace of modernism the mighty Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany? Probably 2 or 3. Yes, you read that right, I remember seeing only 2-3 modernist buildings, that includes the Bauhaus campus itself by Walter Gropius. I heard, Dessau was heavily damaged during the WW-2, however, the question remains, why did people not embrace the movement during the rebuilding? The movement that shook the world of art and architecture in the 20s and continued to hold strong foot in the schools of thoughts even today—could hardly affect its own neighbourhood, let alone the town and cities around it or greater Europe.
So is the case in every big city in the west that I have been to thus far. Give me example of one city in Europe or Americas where modern buildings are mainstream; zero! It is generally the bustling (often ugly) downtowns that host a number of modern buildings. Everything else is either repurposed old buildings, vernacular traditional buildings, new buildings that look old, or flamboyant post modernist, post structuralist works. Look at all the new houses—impact of modernism—zero, they are still built in the same old way they used to be built since hundreds of years. The only addition there are probably the modern amenities, but majority of them, do they look like a product of modernism? They don’t.
This is not an argument of right or wrong. This is an exposé of the fallacy of religiously strong modernist philosophies that are preached in the architecture schools as ‘the one true school of thought’ that we should follow and worship. People who have been through that brainwashing, preaching and indoctrination, please know that you have been brainwashed!
Modernism does not exist anywhere in the West. It never did. It was a part of a leftist manifesto, that never really worked. Wait, except in the poor countries, in so-called Global South. It was exported, prescribed, taught, and pushed like a colonising plague spread to assert western hegemony in the local culture. Modernism helped rubber stamping cheap, shabby, mediocre buildings that look like it came out of the ass of a factory production line; at least that’s what the majority of the production. That in fact is modernism’s only success, the shabby skyline of fast growing densely populated cities of the global south. It is a western philosophy preached to produce faceless, mediocre cities in poor countries.
Everything else, every other popular instance of modernism that you read in books or see on lecture slides, or the like the one I drew in this sketch above, are either elitist edifices built for showing off stealth wealth or a false modesty of rich people; or they are something that directly contradict with modernist theories themselves. They are not the mainstream in any city in the west. They are just a few pet projects of obnoxiously affluent clients, or rubber stamped downtown office towers.
Do I have a suggestion here? No, I do not. I just want to open your eyes to realise that you have been brainwashed by modernist theories. Question them, discard them. Focus on conserving and repurposing old buildings in the city if you have a chance, feel free to reproduce from traditional wisdom, feel free to do anything that is helpful for the city, the people, and the environment. Set yourself free from whatever your art or architecture schools taught you. Break free of modernist brainwashing. Please.
