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| Yes, keep moving along this is not for you. |
"In his essay on Airs, Waters, and Places the Greek physician Hippocrates boldly asserted 2,500 years that the physical and temperamental attributes of a the various populations in Europe and Asia were determined by the physical characteristics of each particular region, such as climate, topography of the land, composition of the soil, quality of the water" 1
However this view of "evolutionary architecture", one which acknowledges the adaptive process in architectural design, should be a paradigm shift in architecture. Architects need to understand, "Since the physical and social environment plays such a large role in the exercise of freedom, environments should be designed to provide conditions for enlarging as much as possible the range of choices. This applies to social planning, urban or rural development, and all the practices that affect the conduct of life" 3 This design philosophy and it's effects are recognized by very few but there have been notable people in the past who have understood it better than others. One person in particular was Winston Churchill:
"On the night of May 10, 1941, with one of the last bombs of the last serious raid, our House of Commons was destroyed by the violence of the enemy, and we have now to consider whether we should build it up again, and how, and when.
"We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us. Having dwelt and served for more than forty years in the late Chamber, and having derived very great pleasure and advantage there from, I, naturally, should like to see it restored in all essentials to its old form, convenience and dignity." 4
—House of Commons (meeting in the House of Lords), 28 October 1943. The old House was rebuilt in 1950 in its old form, remaining insufficient to seat all its members.
Churchill is clearly acknowledging the fact that architecture influences behavior and in turn shapes the course of mankind. The correlation he observes is an astute one and rather fascinating since Churchill is no scientist or architect yet he gives great weight to his belief and because of it the House of Commons was re-built as he suggested it should. Like Churchill I'm over simplifying a very complex scientific theory- I'm not a researcher but I am an architect and strongly believe as did Churchill in this concept. The most academic interpretation of Churchill's statement is given by biologist Rene Dubos (my primary reference throughout this article) who said, "Eventually a change of environment leads to a change in habits, which in turn modifies certain characteristics of the organism. Even when repeated for several generations, such modifications are not truly inheritable, but they may nevertheless foster evolutionary changes. The reason is that continued residence in a particular environment tends to favor the selection of mutants adapted to it. Eventually, such mutations are incorporated into the genetic structure of the species involved" 5 I have known for many years the power of architecture and how it extends far beyond the visible realm. Perhaps the scientific community or others will one day conduct ground breaking studies in this area of architecture. Universities would do well to lead the charge and go beyond developing pretty forms.
Until more studies come along we can make some broad observations and predictions, at least in the general sense. It can be argued that the Industrial Revolution marks the second drastic step (the first being the natural world) in changing mans evolutionary path, replacing natural influences with artificial ones. These newly created influences designed by the architect and engineer, along with many others in technology and medicine have drastically altered mankind's way of life. It is also the first mass migration of peoples from the rural world to the industrialized one. For the first time in man's evolutionary history his environment is one that is largely created, with new struggles and challenges. In this foreign environment man is no longer shaped by god's hands but by man's. It would help us to understand that "In all countries of Western civilization, the largest part of life is now spent in an environment conditioned and often entirely created by technology. Thus one of the most most significant and disturbing aspects of modern life is that man's contacts with the rest of creation are almost always distorted by artificial means, even though his senses and fundamental perceptions have remained the same since the Stone Age." 6 Since architects do not seem to grasp this basic insight they cannot fathom what devastating short term and especially long term effects poor planning will have on the evolutionary process. We have f'#@%d much as the cartoon below states, we blew it. We have little comprehension about how our technological advances, including engineering and architecture play out in a world that is ever closing in and closing out man's connection to his original habitat. As far as architecture goes, "Bad" architects and bad architecture if you believe in my hypothesis has much greater implications on society than we previously thought. They are no longer the producers of inferior work that clutter the built environment in the short term but are also producers of a long term negative evolutionary element, shaping future generations in unproductive ways.
One example (and there are many) is "Sprawl architecture". It is a good indicator of how a sedentary lifestyle, lived in cartoon architecture, in clustered neighborhoods are shaping our behavioral and physical aspects of our lives. We may think we are free, living in the country outside the city but that would be a false illusion: "The suburbanite may have a lawn in front of his house, but the air he breathes, the water he drinks, and the food he eats are as chemically processed or polluted as those of the city apartment dweller. He may have a tool shop in his basement but he is completely dependent on public services as if he lived in the heart of the city..." 7 We have far greater worries to concern ourselves with than a process that is working behind the scenes and quite unnoticed but we must understand our adapting, and shaping is constantly underway. You may believe architecture cannot be correlated in evolutionary terms since it is not organic, true enough but the factors that influence evolution usually are not: geography, climate, terrain, natural resources, shelter, etc. Darwin does not mention architecture (so I believe) in his ground breaking work but there is no doubting that man made factors such as the Industrial Revolution will cause fundamental change to man just as the bush did. Darwin needed nature in its purest unmolested form to prove his theory and he found it the Galapagos. What I am describing is nothing new of course but instead of a clean slate as Darwin had I'm trying to apply it to the developed world of endless variables. On Long Island NY where I live, every square inch of this land has been altered by civilization, it would not be a stretch to show causality between an over developed environment and certain adaptive features in response to it. As Mr. Dubos points out; "The very fact that cultural forces are changing the ways of life so profoundly and rapidly makes it certain that genetic effects on man himself will eventually follow" 8 We may need a few hundred years or more to see any definitive results but predictions can be made....but in the mean time let's go the opposite way of sprawl and "... shun uniformity of surroundings as much as absolute conformity in behavior and tastes. We must strive instead to create as many diversified environments as possible" 9
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| Sprawl in accelerated form... |
The era of the Industrial Revolution is at an end and a new evolutionary process has begun. Energy efficiency, environmental awareness, resource management, and the Green Movement are under way but it just isn't enough to solve the problems the IR caused. The exponentially growing population is draining the planet of resources faster than we can replenish them. Political correctness forbids us from doing anything effective about it and as the years go on things only get worse. Energy, food and water shortages will be the norm. For many it will be a constant day to to day struggle. The war of resource control will soon go into high gear. Evolution reverts back to competition in its rawest form, I'm not talking about who can make the savviest business deal, or how to handle any situation with wit, I'm talking about who can physically overpower the next guy. Theft and violence will become commonplace as there is not enough for everyone in this over populated planet. Architecture will have to respond. Most homes and buildings will become over built forts of some sort and security (World Trade 1- First 30 floors or so?) will be every one's prime concern as they try to protect themselves along with their precious commodities. Those that can avail themselves of technology and use it to their advantage will bypass this stage in the evolutionary process and live a more comfortable and secure life.
As you can see from this article I have relied heavily on Rene Dubos' book, So Human an Animal. I came across this book by total chance, or by providence, you be the judge, which led me to a great insight in how I should practice architecture. So strong a message, it also shaped my moral responsibility to society as far as my architecture goes. It is my firm belief that this book is a key insight into how we can develop a better society and a better architecture. This book should be mandatory reading for all architects but it is not, in fact I would wager not many if any have even heard of it.
AD
1. Dubos, Rene. So Human an Animal, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1968
p.49
2. Ibid p.xi
3. Ibid p.145
4. www.winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotations/famous-quotations-and-stories
5. Dubos, Rene. So Human an Animal, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1968
p.7
6. Ibid p.16
7. Ibid p.59
8. Ibid p.61
9. Ibid p.194
10. Ibid p.xi
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