Mies van Der Rohe said “less is more”.  At first, this thought seems to make sense.  But Milton Glazer has a more nuanced position that I think nails it.  He said:

Being a child of modernism I have heard this mantra all my life. Less is more. One morning upon awakening I realised that it was total nonsense, it is an absurd proposition and also fairly meaningless. But it sounds great because it contains within it a paradox that is resistant to understanding. But it simply does not obtain when you think about the visual of the history of the world. If you look at a Persian rug, you cannot say that less is more because you realise that every part of that rug, every change of colour, every shift in form is absolutely essential for its aesthetic success. You cannot prove to me that a solid blue rug is in any way superior. That also goes for the work of Gaudi, Persian miniatures, art nouveau and everything else. However, I have an alternative to the proposition that I believe is more appropriate. ‘Just enough is more.’

 I couldn’t agree more.

My partner designed a “traditional” house for a client of ours. It’s currently under construction and we went out for a site visit. It’s nicely designed. However, the owners have made some poor decisions and mucked up the proportions. It’s now taller than it should have been. As designed, it was pretty good. But I couldn’t like it. I kept wondering why.

Last night, if figured it out. I figured out some of what I don’t like about traditional styles, or why modern interpretations of traditional bothers me so much.

It’s really not very complicated. While I may not like some “traditional” architecture (and by this I mean early 20th century or older) I can appreciate it. I do enjoy their proportions, detailing and I’ve gained a better understanding of why they did what they did.

What I don’t like about modern “traditional” stuff is simple. It’s badly done. And, there is so much of the bad stuff that the good stuff sometimes just gets lumped in with everthing else. The details are similar and from a road distance, the good blurs by. I’m so used to seeing poorly done “traditional” that I’ve stopped looking at it all together. In the end, I may miss well done “traditional”.

It’s much like thinking that Totino’s Frozen Pizza is what pizza is. If most of your experience is Totino’s, then you may not have much of a desire for a really good brick oven pizza from the local pizza parlor. Good pizza is easy to find and make. Unfortunately, good “traditional” isn’t easy to design or build. That’s probably why we don’t see much of it. And when we do, we’re likely to lump it in with Totino’s.

PS: I actually like a Totino’s… once a year. Any more than that and we’ve exceeded my ability to deal with it.

After you’ve voted on the poll, please leave a comment about why you like that particular style:

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