"We are creatures of symbols, and our architecture tells us who we are. John Ruskin, the greatest of architectural critics, observed that a nation writes its history in many books, but that the book of its buildings is the most enduring. The faith in order and proportion embodied in the Alhambra, the romance of modernity caught in the Eiffel Tower's lattice of iron-these are not ideas imposed on buildings but ideals that the buildings themselves express, more lastingly than words can."
"The surprise and shock that so many people have registered at the photographs of Donald Trump's destruction of the East Wing of the White House-soon to be replaced by his own ostentatious and overscaled ballroom-is itself, in a way, surprising and shocking. On the long list of Trumpian depredations, the rushed demolition might seem a relatively minor offense. After months marked by corruption, violence, and the open perversion of law,"
Photographs show Donald Trump demolishing the White House East Wing to replace it with an ostentatious overscaled ballroom. Architectural forms serve as enduring national symbols that express ideals such as order, proportion, and democratic modesty. The Alhambra and the Eiffel Tower embody faith and modern romance; the Lincoln Memorial embodies restrained democratic heroism. The White House has historically signaled a family-scaled, non-imperial presidency and the temporary nature of executive power. Transforming the East Wing into a grandiose private space undermines the modest, egoless values embedded in American civic architecture and signals a corrosive redefinition of public symbolism and democratic propriety.
Read at The New Yorker
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]