Remainder of Chapter 5 in Geography of Nowhere

Below are the remaining comments I planned to make about this chapter on architectural styles, especially the rise of "Modernism" and how it contributed to creating the "geography of nowhere."

1. Kunstler characterizes the utopian-socialist ideas of the Bauhaus architects, who would eventually have a great impact on America. (See p. 71, first two paragraphs) Basically, "They romanticized the machine and embraced the growing mechanization of life as a wonderful development." (p. 71)

a) He also mentions Le Corbusier in this regard and his belief that "the house is a machine for living." (p. 72)

2. These architects fled to America when Hitler came to power, and because they were anti-Hitler they became part of the cultural establishment of America. And given that we were in for a period of considerable industrial and residential development after World War II, these architects and their "vision" had an inordinate influence.

3. Philip Johnson, a disciple of one of the architects connected with what was called "The International Style" made a revealing admission in an 1989 interview -- "The International Style did sweep the world because it came along at the same time developers wanted to make cheap buildings, and this was cheaper than other architectures." (pp. 80-81)

4. Eventually, along came Robert Venturi who ushered in the postmodern phase with his 1967 book, which Kunstler broadly characterizes as follows: "Where Modernists had championed an architecture that was 'heroic and original,' Venturi now called for one that dared to be 'ugly and ordinary.'" (p. 81)

a.) In some of his most biting sarcasm, Kunstler comments further on just how "ugly and ordinary" this postmodern approach was --

"As for the bad urbanism of the strip, the complete lack of relationship between buildings, the obliteration of human scale, the tyranny of the car -- no problem. 'We might not like cars, but a large part of the population does,' Venturi had written earlier. It was a 'taste culture' issue. They were like stoned graduate students on a field trip, their critical faculties gone up in smoke." (p. 82)

Also, commenting on some of the buildings that came out of this -- "As if to say, 'Here, you nation of morons, is another inevitably banal, cheap concrete box, of the only type your sordid civilization allows, topped by some cheap and foolish ornament worthy of your TV-addled brains.'" (p.83)

5. Finally, let me call your attention to a nice summary statement in the last paragraph of the chapter. See p. 84.


That brings us up to Chapter 6, Joyride, which chronicles the rise of the automobile and the demise of the electric trolley. We'll focus on the demise of the electric trolley and the forces behind that (pp. 90-92) when we see "Taken for a Ride" next Tuesday, 11/4.