Posts Tagged ‘modernism’

July 17, 2014

Why Some Modernist Homes Make Bad Neighbors

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I grew up as an architect loving modernism and its clean lines, its spartan rectilinear shapes and its honesty of materials. But now that I’ve gotten some distance from my modernism-centric education, I see how modernism can go wrong, especially on a residential scale in established neighborhoods. As I’ve written emphatically before, I don’t think the solution is to copy historic homes, but to create a new contemporary architecture that reflects the materials, sensibilities and values of today while still honoring timeless and universal principles of being neighborhood and people oriented. Historic homes celebrated the front porch, for example,…

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October 07, 2013

Steel and Glass Skyscrapers Are Invading Vancouver

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Architecture school at Arizona State University from 1993 to 2001 (when I was an undergraduate and graduate student there) had a very clear leaning towards the modern aesthetic. Not only did I learn about structures, architectural history and cladding systems, I learned that modernism is good and everything else isn’t really that good. So the modern aesthetic, with clean minimalist lines using materials like glass, steel and concrete was driven into our heads as the thing to aspire to. Le Corbusier, Mies Van der Rohe, and Walter Gropius were lionized. Frank Lloyd Wright, even though he was so influential…

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