‘Architecture is what nature cannot make. Architecture is something unnatural, but not something made up’ (Louis Kahn). Opposed to the products of nature, architecture is an artifact in literal sense, something artfully made, with a certain intention, from beautiful buildings to concentration camps.

‘...not all positive change feels positive in the beginning’ (S. C. Lourie). City planning uses grids for urban development. As long as you stay in the system of the grid, you can’t change anything. In addition, as long as nobody talks to the people, there is no inclusion for positive change.

‘Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal’ (Albert Camus). In our so-called great society of today, there is a great need for people needing validation and acceptance while avoiding the everyday meaning of what life and society should be.

‘An idea is salvation by imagination ‘ (Frank Lloyd Wright). This credo is the opposite to nihilism. It is about ideas that are imagining a better future. To imagine a space where we want to live, and to go forward to realize that space - instead of resignation and nihilism.

‘Architecture is the art of how to waste space’ (Philip Johnson). With the city in decline, one must question if the architecture of the last half century is art, or the art of wasting space. Challenge the architect of today to attempt to create a functional living space for the population.

‘Without an architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization’ (Louis Kahn). Is an oblivion upon us, having a look at the bulk of today’s architecture having no soul? Is the architecture of today an expression of who we are today…a signature of our society?

‘We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future’ (Franklin D. Roosevelt). It seems we have built a future for our youth filled with frustration, isolation, and the loss of self-esteem. The question to all of us is, where have we all gone wrong?

‘The way of bringing forth a city is the identification of the citizens with their community’ (Hans Kollhoff). How is this possible today, in an era of fragmented societies, maximization of individual interests, and the predominance of social media which replaced the old public place?

‘Housing is absolutely essential to human flourishing. Without stable shelter, it all falls apart’ (Matthew Desmond). Housing encompasses more than just a roof over one’s head. It is a psychological need. A society that cannot supply proper housing for its population, is a society lost.

‘We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims’ (R. Buckminster Fuller). Architecture, over time, has been the basis of the identity of societies and cultures. The collective consciousness that drove in the past the concepts of what architecture would be has been lost.

‘Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness’ (Frank Gehry). What does this mean today, in times of accelerating change and architectures built just for the moment, as a mere expression of that moment?

Culture is unity of style in all expressions of life in a society, Friedrich Nietzsche said. What does this mean for today’s architecture? In the fragmented societies of the West, is there one predominant style at all? Or have we lost a consistent style, just as we have lost a cohesive society?

‘I like ruins because what remains is not the total design, but the clarity of thought, the naked structure, the spirit of the thing’ (Tadao Ando). Ruins can reveal the very essence of a building, its nature, and its intentions. What kind of world was it that architecture stands for?

‘Architecture arouses sentiments in man. The architect's task, therefore, is to make those sentiments more precise’ (Adolf Loos). Architecture is both visual and mental. Architecture itself is defining how it affects the individual. We first shape the buildings, and then the buildings shape us.

‘The task of architecture is the creation of the human living space’ (Friedrich von Borries). Faced with urban agglomerations, slums, congestion, and decay, architecture has had its successes and failures that have had a direct effect on the living quality of society and community.

‘Architecture is about trying to make the world a little bit more like our dreams’ (Bjarke Ingels). What does this mean today, in times of cheap, functional architecture designed for profit or mass housing? What about giving the world we live in a new, more human, and more beautiful appearance?

‘Art must show the world as changeable. And help to change it’ (Ernst Fischer). ‘By far the greatest and most admirable form of wisdom is that needed to plan and beautify cities and human communities’ (Socrates).

‘Where wealth accumulates, men decay’ (Oliver Goldsmith). There has been a massive accumulation of wealth by the few, but most of the population cannot afford the housing it needs to live in. What had once been a dream of the ideal space to live in, has become a nightmare of survival.

‘A strong economy causes an increase in the demand for housing; the increased demand for housing drives real-estate prices and rentals through the roof. And then affordable housing becomes completely inaccessible’ (William Baldwin). This is the reality of what exists in today’s communities.

‘Housing is absolutely essential to human flourishing. Without stable shelter, it falls apart’ (Matthew Desmond). In today’s world, there exists a massive housing problem. Without ample housing, there is a possibility that communities and societies will crumble.

‘Architecture is a visual art, and the buildings speak for themselves’ (Julia Morgan). This does apply for every kind of architecture, beautiful and human as well as awful and inhuman. Moreover, every architecture is indicative for the society and culture that created it.

‘Architecture is the learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light’ (Le Corbusier). Based on architecture as an intelligent construction, it is a learned game as one has to play with shapes and sizes and ultimate structures that are not a product of the everyday.

‘Without an architecture our own, we have no soul of our own civilization’ (Frank Lloyd Wright). Architecture as an art is essential to the identity of a culture. Culture needs to have a soul, and architecture is one of the driving forces in society that drives the soul of a culture.

‘Architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space’ (Mies van der Rohe). We see an entire artificial space made in a specific style, opening up in front of our eyes - it could be part of a whole world constructed in the same style. Culture is unity of style, Nietzsche said.

‘Buildings are deeply emotive structures which form our psyche’ (David Adjaye). Our built environment is forming us. Not only our life habits and perceptions, but also our inner Self, our psyche. We live what we build, and what we build is what we live, from the daily ways of life to our very Self.

‘An idea is salvation by imagination’ (Frank Lloyd Wright). All architectural concepts begin as an idea. When one is creating, one steps into one’s imagination and brings forth images and concepts. The direct result being that what was the original idea became reality due to the imagination.

‘Architecture is the stage on which we live our lives’ (Mariam Kamara). Architecture as a stage delivers to a community a structural essence that has a purposeful reality. On a stage, one depicts culture and society based on storylines from the members collectively participating in the creation.

‘Architecture is the stage on which we live our lives’ (Mariam Kamara). Architecture as a stage delivers to a community a structural essence that has a purposeful reality. On a stage, one depicts culture and society based on storylines from the members collectively participating in the creation.

‘The acceptance of certain realities doesn’t preclude idealism. It can lead to certain breakthroughs’ (Rem Koolhaas). To create reality, one has to create an ideal upon which to build a reality. Every reality that exists came from a focused idea which then transposed the irreal to real..F.

‘Architecture is the thoughtful making of space’ (Louis Kahn). This refers to architecture as an art, but also to the manifold relations that exist between architecture, society, and politics. Which kinds of architecture for which kinds of people?

‘Architecture is inhabited sculpture’ (Constantin Brancusi). A sculpture is a form of art, and so should be architecture. A sculpture implies a certain relation of its components, a proportion; and as inhabited sculpture, it should follow the human measure.What does this mean for the city?

‘Architecture is the masterly, correct, and magnificent play of form in light’ (Le Corbusier). What does this mean today, for the bulk of architecture? And, even more important: how is it possible, in times of low budget, energy efficiency, and mass housing, to follow these principles nonetheless?

‘For me, architecture is a social act’ (David Adjaye). Architecture, also in its expression as sociopolitical organization, defines and frames community and society. Therefore, it affects the social fabric of the space that it exists in. Society without a structure is not able to define itself.

‘Architecture is a political act, by nature. It has to do with the relationships between people and how they decide to change their conditions of living’ (Lebbeus Woods). Which is of utmost importance today, facing new challenges imposed by recent authoritarian regimes, including the West.

‘Architecture is about ideas in the first place’ (Lebbeus Woods). This also includes ideas about society and in its wake, ideas about political orders as another kind of architecture - in the face of recent political developments, a question of utmost importance.

Indicative Architecture ‘Architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space’ (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe). When we look at today’s prevailing architecture, what does this say about our epoch? Has our society today become invisible in the architectures of AI-guided processes, and social media?

Architecture and Society ‘I believe that the way people live can be directed a little by architecture’ (Tadao Ando). What does this mean today, for the bulk of architecture we are surrounded by? What kinds of architecture are forming our perception and hence, our consciousness?

People ignore design that ignores people’ (Frank Chimero). The meaning of an architectural ensemble, as a designed consistent whole, is to provide identity and a sense of belonging. In society, a sense of identity reinforces the Self as identity is a source of comfort and a conscious necessity.

Architectural domain ‘I call architecture frozen music’ (Goethe). Both architecture and music are frozen in time as they affect and stimulate generations; they are not confined to the moment. They are both a part of the human consciousness and soul. Photo by U.Gehmann

Art and architecture ‘Architecture, of all the arts, is the one which acts the most slowly, but the most surely, on the soul’ (Ernest Dimnet). Moreover, Works of art can be included in architecture, to generate a space and an atmosphere of its own.Fontana di Trevi, Rome. photo U. Gehmann

‘The most incredible architecture is the architecture of Self, which is ever changing, evolving, revolving…’ (Allan Rufus). To create the Self as an ideal space, there has to be a complete understanding of the Self as a conscious and subconscious entity…this is the absolute architectural vision.

‘The acceptance of certain realities doesn’t preclude idealism. It can lead to certain breakthroughs’ (Rem Koolhaas). The conscious Self in the human being, if it creates a dialogue and communication with the outer world in connection with the Self, can deliver reality.

A city needs places where the citizens can come together to make decisions affecting their common fate and the way they want to live (Spiro Kostof). Can this saying about a Greek democratic polis be applied to the present? Anxiously busy. Frankfurt/Main. Photo U. Gehmann

Not the stones, but people make up a community (Isidor from Sevilla). In line with this, one could argue that in terms of community, architecture is less important than the individuals that make up the community. Architecture and people. Ravenna. Photo U. Gehmann