aaaaargh...

...chitecture

For some time now I've had arguments and word-fights with friends/relatives/different kinds of people on the subject of architectural disaster - as we could call it. It's been happening in Bucharest and some of the "new" buildings are really crap ('xcuse the language). And just today I was looking through an art book with a friend, admiring the gorgeusness of Gaudi's work. So it seemed so natural to post this today :)
To make a long story short, I would say that the problem is mixing "contemporary" buildings with "vintage" ones. And the worst part is that we have to live with them everyday. There's a lot of talk on this subject and the thing is that sometimes it's agreed that the new constructions break the lines and grow chaotically, but...they keep growing. Big, tall giants made out of cold materials (glass and metal) and painted in spooky colours, looking down on you, ever-ready to cut you in pieces if you dare to look around for passion and life. Don't ask for small, but beautiful. Don't ask for curves or details. It's no wonder people are becoming as grey and cold as them...
Here's a nice article by Jim Holt in the New York Times - adressing this very problem and also Alain de Botton's latest book, "The Architecture of Happiness", which claims that our state of mind is often under the influence of the things we're surrounded by: houses, walls, furniture and so on.
The streets and the buildings are there not to be functional and cold, but to create feelings.

P.S. (for PictureS): above you can see the C.E.C (House of Economies and Deposits - or smth like that :P) Building in Bucharest (1875, by a French/Swiss architect named Paul Gottereau) shadowed by the Bancorex Construction in the background.