WEBVTT - The Psychology of Architecture, Part 2 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:04.880 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:13.480 I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, are you welcome 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:15.480 to Stuff to Blow your Mind? My name is Robert 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:18.239 Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and we are back with 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:22.600 part two of our exploration of of architecture in the mind. 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:25.360 That's right. In our first episode, which we do encourage 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:26.599 you to go back and listen to if you have 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:30.240 not already, we discussed the natural world, and then we 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:34.440 discussed the architectural world, this world of artificial shapes and 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:38.720 objects and designs and layouts that that we've made out 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.200 of that natural world, and in many cases we find 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:45.680 ourselves living almost exclusively within those environments. Uh, and the 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:50.040 environments of cities especially. Yeah. We discussed studies about the 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:54.400 psychological and cognitive impacts of different types of interior spaces, 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:58.520 things like uh, color of interior spaces, ceiling height, and 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:00.880 all kinds of stuff like that. Today we're taking a 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:04.560 turn into the cursed realm. That's right. So, to best 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:07.920 to understand the typical functionality of a healthy brain, scientists 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:10.960 often study cases of illness and injury. So perhaps to 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:14.880 help us understand better understand the impact of great architecture 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:18.440 and uh and even like the different attributes of attributes 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:23.000 of every day architecture, we should also turn, uh, you know, 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:26.440 away from the world of vaulted cathedrals and pyramids and 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:30.320 zigaratts uh uh and instead look at to the dark 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:35.240 sorcery of architecture, cursed architecture, if you will. By the way, 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:38.240 if you do a web search for cursed architecture, you'll 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.479 find a lot of examples of of terrible, usually quite 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:46.560 quite insane home and building designs. Uh. This what was 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:48.640 this a Twitter account you shared with me? I think 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:51.840 cursed cursed architect or cursed architecture is a Twitter thing. 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.080 But also if you just look around for like worst 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:58.480 renovations and so forth, that there are a number of 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:00.840 different websites that will include a host of these photos, 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:03.880 a lot of them hosted on like Pinterest or Instagram. 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:06.720 But I swear I was looking at some of these 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:10.040 less Friday, and I was just I was by myself 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:13.720 laughing out loud so hard at them, and sometimes I 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:16.720 couldn't even really quite put a finger on why. Yes, 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:18.880 but the I know exactly what you mean. I was 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:21.760 also laughing really hard at this stuff you sent me. Uh, 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:24.560 the one. I love the ones where there is like 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:29.160 a ledge that cannot be accessed in any way. Yeah, 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:31.400 it's almost like the places where there's like, you know, 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:34.240 a room with the high ceiling and then against the 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:37.120 wall up above you know where the second floor would be. 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:39.920 There's like a hallway, but there's there are no stairs 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:43.920 leading to it. Yes, stairways to nowhere. Um, you know, 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:48.240 weird weird doors to nowhere or doors in the middle 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:51.720 of walls, you know, anything where stairs have been have 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:56.080 been altered drastically or are a great source of hilarity 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:59.000 in these shots. And it it's again it's weird to 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:01.239 try and like figure at exactly why some of these 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:05.000 are funny, because you know, sometimes people just doing the 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:07.720 best with the limitations of an old building, right, an 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:11.160 already weird layout, say, or an older, larger building that 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:15.200 has been sliced into apartments. I remember visiting London with 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:17.919 my wife like fifteen years ago. I think it's staying 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:20.840 you know, weird old hotel where the first thing you 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:23.400 did when you entered the room was walked down a 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.480 flight of stairs. You know, things like things like that. 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.120 But but then again, like given the limitations of the building, 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:30.720 perhaps that was the best way to go about it. 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.240 Oh I I recently stayed in a in a building 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:36.240 in Paris with a hilarious staircase. It was like a 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:39.520 spiral staircase. It wasn't quite a spiral. It was like 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:43.920 a rectangular spiral staircase. And there was no stair there 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:47.240 that was flat. I mean it was angled one way 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:50.840 or another, even outer in and I imagine going up 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:53.360 those things after after a night out on the town 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:56.400 might be might be quite perilous. We had a work 0:03:57.320 --> 0:03:59.360 trip we had to do to Chicago once we stayed 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:02.280 in a hotel. If I'm remembering this correctly, on every 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:06.320 floor there was a short stairway, stairway to a wall 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:10.200 going nowhere, going nowhere except to a painting I think, 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.720 like a painting of a creepy fairy woman. Yeah, it was. 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:16.840 It was weird. So that sort of stuff. There's that 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:19.200 sort of stuff. But then there are other examples where 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:22.200 it's like so clearly somebody just did not care or 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:24.760 did not have time to care, and did not look 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:27.880 back to corrected things, where like a toilet can no 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:33.200 longer close because there's an overhanging the way. You know, 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:37.840 weird cases where a water faucet comes out over the 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:40.800 edge of a small sink or does not come out 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:44.080 far enough to actually empty into the sink. Uh. Some 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:46.400 of them just had gross implications. I think there was 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:48.000 one I was looking at that was just like a 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:50.880 bathroom with a ton of urinals and like a thick 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:55.719 shag carpet or yeah, any kind of carpeted bathroom scenario 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:58.279 is h it is awful. But yeah, I love the 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.599 ones though, where where not only did whoever you know 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:05.120 renovated this, because clearly there's not really design elements they're 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:08.080 not not only did they fail, but someone did this 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:13.240 and thought close enough they just leave right um And 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:15.760 and this gets back to this idea of design though, 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:18.920 like there is this ideal version in mind where an 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:23.320 architect is consulted. Uh, you know, they're they're architects, they're engineers, 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:28.480 and there's this there's this process of intentional design before 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:32.480 something is built. But of course, historically and even sometimes contemporarily, 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:35.039 that's not always the same. For instance, I was talking 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:36.960 with a friend of mine recently about how that when 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:39.720 they were younger, they were you know, they were they 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:43.320 had this job and they were helping somebody build some buildings, 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:45.159 and uh, there was just kind of the sense of 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:46.640 like where we're just gonna throw it up. We're just 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:49.320 gonna throw up some walls, and you know what goes 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:51.400 into a building. You gotta have a floor, you gotta 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:54.640 have walls, roof, you know. Yeah, and and so I guess, 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:57.200 you know, certainly with older buildings, and it's going to 0:05:57.320 --> 0:05:58.760 vary in different parts of the world. You know, there 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:02.000 may be less intent in what is being built. It 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:04.960 may be more about we need a structure at the 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:07.400 end of the week, let's build a structure. And maybe 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:10.120 the individuals building and are not not quite you know, 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.960 the craftspeople that the task requires. But it's you know, 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:16.240 it's one thing to screw up a renovation or to 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:20.160 you know, moment monumentally fail on a toilet installation. It's 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:23.560 quite another to actually design and construct an entire building 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:26.960 or multiple buildings that have a debilitating effect on our 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:30.760 mental well being. And the world is is full of 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:35.280 examples in which a stark or a less traditional architectural 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:39.640 design draws the ire of local inhabitants right often due 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:42.159 to the fact that it replaced a more traditional building 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:47.080 and or stands alongside traditional examples. Um, And you can 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:50.080 pretty much you can. You can drive around any major 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.080 city and you can see that you can see all right, 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:56.080 traditional building, traditional building, weird modern building, and you can 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:59.960 be almost positive that at some point, uh, the neighbors 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.960 were upset about this, or maybe are still upset about this. 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:05.719 Oh yeah. It seems like every major city, if you 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.200 talk to the locals, they'll have like the one ugly 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:11.600 building that they hate. Yeah. Uh. And and blogs are 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:13.680 devoted to this sort of thing as well. Now, for 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:16.960 my money, I sometimes find this a bit dumb. Sometimes 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:19.440 someone builds a cool modern home alongside a bunch of 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.679 traditional little boxes, and people with a more traditional taste 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.040 they get bent out of shape over it, And I 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:28.280 think we have to realize that someone us want to 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:34.120 live in weird gothic concrete apocalypse bunkers, and that's ultimately okay. Um. 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:36.920 But then I go back to the McMansion example we 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:39.120 mentioned in the first episode, the idea that you know, 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:41.840 developer comes along and builds a colossal house, as much 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:44.640 house as as possible in a given a lot, and 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.920 that kind of thing I do find obnoxious. But then again, 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:50.120 like when somebody comes along it's like, yes, that's it. 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:52.480 That's the exact amount of house I want, and I 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:55.600 don't want to mow al on. So to a certain extent, 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:58.520 some of these concerns are a bit ridiculous to even 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:00.680 get too wrapped up in it. I mean, it's just 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:04.160 people's tastes are going to vary. Some people want traditional, 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:07.000 some people want modern, some people want ultramodern, and some 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.760 people maybe want to piss off the neighbors. Oh sure, 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:12.240 I mean the spite houses are a whole wonderful thing 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:15.000 on their own. Uh, we could come back to that, 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:17.720 but yeah. I mean, I think one thing that's important 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:20.360 to keep in mind as we go forward and think 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:22.880 about the subject is the difference between just like our 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:28.440 esthetic preferences and what actually has psychological effects on people, 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:32.400 Like the difference between what kind of school building seems 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:35.560 nice to you versus what kind of school building actually 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:40.080 has measurable outcomes on children's performance in in their education. 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:45.040 Absolutely so, in figuring it out and trying to decide, like, 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:47.760 you know, how much of it is, uh to what 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:51.280 ex soon is there's some sort of intrinsically debilitating aspect 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:55.240 to certain architectural styles or approaches versus this idea of 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:59.040 just personal taste. One has to visit the topic of 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:04.280 brutalist dark texture. Brutal soccer architecture emerged out of Switzerland, 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:06.840 I believe, in the nineteen fifties, was especially popular in 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:09.720 the fifties and sixties, and you can find it around 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:13.440 the world, but especially in the UK, the US, Canada, 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.640 Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc and in UM the 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:23.080 former Soviet Union, and generally with brutalist architecture, you're dealing with, um, 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:28.120 you know, stark, imposing geometric designs built with lots of concrete. Uh. 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:31.240 It is often stark, and some of what's classified as 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:35.120 a brutalist I see as as as beautiful, creative or 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:38.520 even evocative. Uh you know some some of them the 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:42.000 designs feel very just ultra modern in in a way, 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:44.600 or sometimes ultra modern kind of like a retro fashion, 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:48.440 you know. Um. Other examples are are harder for me 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:51.720 to love. But again, your mindleage is going to vary 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.640 when it comes to brutalist architecture. A lot of what's 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:58.280 most recognized in brutalist architecture are these large surfaces of 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:01.000 exposed concrete, and in fact that's where the name comes 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:04.080 from the name of brutalist architecture, does not come from 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:08.160 it somehow being brutal, like a like a brutality in 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:12.120 Mortal Kombat? Is that a thing? Brutality? Okay, you're the 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:15.319 m K expert here um, But no, it comes from 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:19.360 the phrase betem brute, which means raw concrete. And that's 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:23.320 because he has very often has these large raw concrete features. 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.040 One example I think we mentioned in the last episode 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:28.320 is Boston City Hall, which I think is, you know, 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:31.520 one of the most famous brutalist structures, which personally, I 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:34.400 think is extremely esthetically pleasing. I like it a lot, 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:35.880 though I know a lot of people hate it. It's 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:38.880 apparently just a controversial building. I was saying, one of 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:41.120 the things I like about it is um, at least 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:44.120 from some angles of the building, there are ways that 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:47.959 it has sort of like a variable structure that can 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:52.480 be like horizontally uh permeated, but then sort of spreads 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:54.720 out as it goes up. And in a way to me, 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:59.000 it is a concrete structure that sort of mimics a forest. 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:02.280 Something about it look kind of like organic, like a 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:05.520 copse of trees that you could walk into. Uh. And 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:07.679 I really like that about it. Yeah. I look at 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:11.160 this image of it, and it it defies sort of 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:13.880 easy identification, Like I look at it and I would 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:17.200 not be able to turn and necessarily draw it. You know. Um, 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:21.960 there's something that you it asks you to map it out. 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:25.319 You know. It feels like an environment of concrete as 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:28.440 much as you know it is a structure of concrete. Yeah, 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:30.920 and I think it incorporates some of the elements that 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:32.880 we're talking about in the last episode that make for 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.600 good structures, Like it has some pattern and complexity it. 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:42.439 It has this organic feeling type of variability in the structure. 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:45.360 It's somewhat looks like trees. Yeah, there's a sort of 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:47.320 mcs er vibe to it to a certain instant, A 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:49.560 little bit that too, Yeah, but not in a way 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:52.560 that makes it functionally confusing, right, but not in a 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:55.320 way where it seems to break the laws of nature, 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:58.520 physics or anything. So when when we're when we're dealing 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:01.280 with architecture of this, I think there are a few 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:03.040 things we have to to realize. First of all, and 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:06.000 we'll come back to this later, is that architecture does 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:10.240 not exist in a vacuum like a building. Uh, even 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.640 just a highly designed building. It is not does not 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.160 exist independent of say, what that building is for, It 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:22.160 doesn't exist independent of history, etcetera. But another big problem 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:26.480 is that architecture is an art form, a design medium, 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:29.959 and a product or practice. It's not just about form 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.959 and function and art since it is in part art 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:36.960 is not just about making you feel good. I'll admit 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:40.679 that most of my favorite visual artists have have you know, 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:45.440 typically not been concerned with making people feel good? Um, 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:48.560 I think of like Irving Norman or hr Geiger or 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:52.280 Brugal Bosch. You know, I love these artists and you 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:55.320 might love them too, But do you want them influencing 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:59.560 the power of your physical environment? I mean, I suppose 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:01.800 on some of you do if you're attempted to frame 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:04.680 a print of it on your wall, But are then 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:07.280 you But would you inflict it upon the neighborhood which 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:09.080 you looked at, upon a whole city? Do you want 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:13.280 to live in a Bosch painting? So I wanted to 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:20.079 discuss a few examples of unpopular buildings, or buildings that 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.719 at least have been very unpopular with segments of the population. 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:26.920 One of them, and I would consider this an extreme example, 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:32.840 is the House of Soviets in Kaliningrad located UH in 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:37.199 Kaliningrad Oblast, an exclave of Russia on the Baltic Sea. 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:41.160 And this is a historically Prussian area, but again is 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:42.920 it was part of the Soviet Union and is part 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:46.400 of Russia today. The House of Soviets is built on 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:49.200 the grounds, but not the exact site, of the former 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:52.520 Konigsberg Castle, which was destroyed during the Second World War. 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:54.960 But the House of the Soviets, built in the seventies 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:59.839 does not look like a Teutonic castle. Uh. Instead, it 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:03.600 looks It is frequently described as looking like the head 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:06.560 of a giant robot that has been buried up to 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:09.600 the neck in the earth. It looks like almost kind 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:16.000 of a gigantic concrete battery. Yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe huge 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:19.920 concrete air conditioning unit with eyes. Yeah. It does appear 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:23.720 to have eyes and kind of a mouth and even horns. Perhaps. 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:27.480 Some locals have also called it the monster in the past. Again, 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:29.480 it's the House of Soviets. If you look it up online, 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:32.120 you'll find plenty of pictures of it. I will note 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.080 that you will find two different versions generally, and that's 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:39.640 because it used to have more of a concrete dark appearance, 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:44.240 certainly more brutalist, like clearly brutalist in its appearance, because 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:45.920 it is often held up as a great example of 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.760 brutalist architecture. But it was in two thousand five, i believe, 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:53.640 which also coincided with a visit by Vladimir Putin, that 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:56.440 it was paint painted in new color. So now it 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:59.720 has this awful blue color, which is even worse because 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:02.680 it's it's it's not even it's like you're hiding the 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:04.960 fact or covering up the fact that it's brutalist. You know, 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:07.920 it's like it's not rack concrete anymore. It is raw 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:10.640 concrete that has been painted the color of an easter egg. 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:14.240 So again, critics consider it one of the worst examples 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:16.440 of Soviet architecture, though it has also been held up 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:20.040 as a solid example of brutalist architecture, and it's it's also, 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:23.000 i should add, it's a little unfair to completely judge 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:26.080 it even based on the older pictures you'll find of it, 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:29.360 because it has never truly been finished. It is technically 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:33.640 an unfinished building. It fulfills no purpose as a building 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:38.360 to this day. Yeah, so um, again, we have to 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:42.640 realize that architecture is business. Architecture does not exist, uh 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:46.960 in a vacuum. Um, it doesn't exist in its own bubble. History, politics, 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:51.160 and culture. Color are perceptions of them in its conception. 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:53.760 The House of the Soviets was perhaps designed to be, 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:57.240 you know, either symbol of modernity or progress progress, but 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:00.800 it might also be viewed as a tombstone symbolising Soviet 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:04.800 or Russian rule over historically German city, that sort of thing. 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.840 Or you might look at it and realize that does nothing. 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:10.760 There's nothing going on in there because this was never finished. 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:14.520 This is a testament to an unfinished project. But not 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:18.320 everything considered brutalist is like a monster level of of 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:23.520 of of ugliness, etcetera. One I think, great example that 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:28.360 kind of you know bucks. The stereotype for brutalist architecture 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:33.120 is Montreal's Habitat sixty seven complex, which was designed by 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:36.560 Motion Savty, which you need to look up a picture 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:39.880 this as well, because I can only describe it so well. Uh. 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:44.360 It looks like a long horizontal row of randomly stacked 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:48.800 boxes at different angles. Um, and it it's it's quite 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:51.240 interesting to look at in my opinion, and was actually 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:54.880 designed with some of the problems of high density living 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:57.760 in mind, I think it actually looks kind of interesting. 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:00.000 I mean it, I mean, to me, it's somewhat fulfilled. 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:02.920 Is that, you know, it has some complexity on the 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:07.320 exterior surfaces, it has it has a kind of organic 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:10.680 nature to it. It feels more like a natural environment. Yeah, 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:13.280 it's basically and I'm this is like a very crude 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:15.840 summary of it. I'm sure that the the the architect's 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:20.120 original words about it. We're far Uh, it's far better 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:22.119 expression of it. But it's kind of like, if I 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:24.240 have to live right on top of where someone else 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:27.040 is living, well, can't I live a little west, little 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:29.320 sideways or a little little after the little of the right, 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:32.440 And likewise, does the person above me? Could they maybe 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:34.480 be a little further back, a little to the side. 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:36.760 Maybe there's some room in all of this for a 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:39.639 little courtyards, a little porches. And so it does have 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:42.120 that kind of zigarot feel. It has this kind of 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:44.560 it looks kind of like it was made by by 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:49.680 space age insects. Uh. It turns concrete box living spaces 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.840 into something more like a you know, like a like 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:56.720 a bush of thorns, which that doesn't sound very inviting, 0:17:56.760 --> 0:18:00.439 but it looks very cool. Actually, yeah, absolutely, um and 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:02.680 I if I'm remembering correctly, I don't think it was 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:05.800 mentioned in the book Future Shock, but I think the 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:10.680 kind of campy television adaptation of Future Shock that was 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:14.480 hosted by Orson Wells, I think they pictured they used 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:18.520 images or footage of habitat sixty seven talking about like 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:22.080 living spaces of the future. Another quick example that sometimes 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:26.840 brought up concerning brutalist architecture from the nineties seventies. Uh, 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:32.280 the it's what Naive nev Brown brutalist department in Rowley Way, London, 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.800 which has a kind of terrorist look to it, and 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:38.520 I think looks quite beautiful. It looks it looks kind 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:42.639 of like a stadium turned into apartments, you know. Um 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:45.000 and and I rather like it. But again it's one 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:50.240 of these where it's not that stereotypical idea of brutalist architecture. 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:53.720 But again not everyone likes it either. Now a huge 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:58.639 example of detrimental modern but not brutalist architecture that is 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:03.080 often brought up was the is what was known as 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:07.480 the Pruitt Ego Housing complex in St. Louis, Missouri. This 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:10.760 was built in the nineteen fifties and designed by Minoru 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:15.119 Yamasaki of a World Trade Center fame, and the complex 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:19.040 consists of consisted of thirty three apartment blocks, each eleven 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:23.320 stories high, and uh, you know it, it actually sums 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:25.840 up a lot of the things that Habitat sixty seven 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:27.960 was trying to get away from. Like if you look 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:30.960 at an aerial picture of what this looked like, I 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:34.919 mean it looked like a graveyard for giants. It's just 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:39.400 big slabs of apartment buildings with these big empty spaces 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:45.080 in between. And uh, it's it's just, uh it's it's 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:47.679 just it's tough to look at. As described by Michael 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:51.000 Bond in The Hidden Ways that Architecture Affects How You Feel, 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:55.640 written for BBC Future, the complex quote quickly became notorious 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:59.720 for their crime squalor and social dysfunction. Critics argue that 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.840 the i'd open spaces between the blocks of modernist high 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:07.120 rises discouraged a sense of community, particularly as crime rates 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:11.119 started to rise. As as a result, these bleak, prison 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:14.639 like slabs of housing were demolished in nineteen seventy two. 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:16.760 And this is an example that that is often discussed 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.880 when people talk about like what's an example of architecture 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:22.679 that has a detrimental effect on the people that have 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:26.280 to live with it, right, that not necessarily may well, 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:28.320 I mean I don't want to describe ill intentions to 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:31.480 the architect, but like that is that is not properly 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:34.920 tuned with the well being of its inhabitants in mind, right, Yeah, 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:36.879 and it's as Yeah, it's also worth pointing at the 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:40.320 architect does not have sole power over like where a 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:43.879 building is constructed or whiant is constructed there. Uh, you know, 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:49.120 certainly getting into critiques of segregation of course, involving aside 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:51.880 like this, but yeah, it also just comes back again 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:54.280 that buildings do not exist in their in their own bubble, 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:56.560 They don't exist in a vacuum, and they can certainly 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:01.639 contribute to or antagonize existing social problems. So these are 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:04.239 just a couple of examples. There are certainly loads of 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:07.680 ugly and or joyless buildings in cities around the world, 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:10.280 and we keep building them. Uh. I mean, if you 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:13.200 look at the current skyline of New York City, you'll 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:18.639 see the full spectrum. You'll see uh, exciting buildings, nostalgic buildings, 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:21.919 modern buildings that are quite interesting to look out modern 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:24.640 buildings that make you a little bit angry to look at, 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:27.879 and plenty of other buildings that you barely see it 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:31.240 all because they're they're just so lukewarm that your mind 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:33.920 cannot even hold them. But again, coming back to something 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:38.000 we talked about in our first episode, um, the importance 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:42.080 of having nearby access to green space with natural vegetation. 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:44.840 Uh there. I mean you kind of can't think about 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:47.680 the architecture of New York City, or certainly think about 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:52.000 the architecture of Manhattan without thinking about Central Park. Central Park. 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:54.560 I mean, there's a reason that almost every photo you 0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:57.560 see of Manhattan has something to do. You know. You 0:21:57.560 --> 0:22:00.840 either get the skyline down from below or you're looking 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:03.600 at part of Central Park. Yeah, or you get a 0:22:03.640 --> 0:22:05.640 shot that has the river in it like that. You 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:08.520 have to have that that natural element. And moving water 0:22:08.600 --> 0:22:11.920 is another one that is sometimes factored into these these studies, 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:14.680 like it, can a body of water be seen by say, 0:22:14.720 --> 0:22:17.800 patient's recovering in a hospital, et cetera. All right, on 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:20.080 that note, we're going to take our first break, but 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:22.800 when we come back, we will get further into this question. 0:22:23.160 --> 0:22:27.560