Hello,
This is not slightly off topic but way off topic, but quite
right for the current situation.
Hope nobody minds.
Following are the words of the Japanese architect Minoru Yamasaki who built
the World trade center in New york.
"There are a few very influential architects who sincerely believe that all
buildings must be 'strong'. The word 'strong' in this context seems to
connote 'powerful'—that is, each building should be a monument to the
virility of our society. These architects look with derision upon attempts
to build a friendly, more gentle kind of building. The basis for their
belief is that our culture is derived primarily from Europe, and that most
of the important traditional examples of European architecture are
monumental, reflecting the need of the state, church , or the feudal
families—the primary patrons of these buildings—to awe and impress the
masses. This is incongruous today. Although it is inevitable for architects
who admire these great monumental buildings of Europe to strive for the
quality most evident in them—grandeur, the elements of mysticism and power,
basic to cathedrals and palaces, are also incongruous today, because the
buildings we build for our times are for a totally different purpose."
—Minoru Yamasaki.
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Received on Wed Sep 12 05:56:29 2001