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crimpinglife 's review for:
The Architecture of Happiness
by Alain de Botton
This is my second Alain de Botton in two days and I'm still convinced that he's at his best in lectures and talks. That being said, The Architecture of Happiness was a very worthwhile read because it's helped me come to terms with what continuing in my profession will mean for me. One of the first and most important questions that this book tackles is whether people really should care about architecture. This is a question that I've routinely asked myself as architecture is has always seemed a bit...frivolous. It never could matter in the face of poverty, ill-health and the lack of human rights; it can make no claims to "save the world".
It's at this crucial juncture that The Architecture of Happiness comes in. A couple of studios ago, a professor of mine asked the question: "What can architecture do?" That's a question that this book attempts to answer, mostly within its first and last chapters (arguably the most important). Stendahl, as previous reviewers have mentioned, is used as answer with this quote: "Beauty is the promise of happiness" and architecture - when done well - is often beauty made manifest. This beauty is ephemeral and subject to decay, much as a cherry blossom will delight for a short while and then departs. Architectural appreciation and practice then necessitates allowing oneself to delight in the ephemeral (both the sensation and the object itself) beauty, celebrating what is required to create it and then finally celebrating the loss of that ephemeral beauty. This philosophy is applicable to life, as life is ephemeral. As de Botton notes, it often takes grief to notice the the beauty of the world again.
So what can architecture do? If done well, it can highlight ephemeral beauty of our world. When done poorly, it can highlight its ugliness. Architecture (and many of the arts, in general) I've come to realize, will never be able to save the world. Its impact is limited and its authors are many. Funnily enough, this is a realization that many people in other professions that I have spoken to (especially doctors) have had to come to. They, as individual practitioners and professions, will not be able to "save the world"; but at the best of their interventions may be able to make our world a little more palatable. A humbling, yet reassuring note that this little book has reinforced.
It's at this crucial juncture that The Architecture of Happiness comes in. A couple of studios ago, a professor of mine asked the question: "What can architecture do?" That's a question that this book attempts to answer, mostly within its first and last chapters (arguably the most important). Stendahl, as previous reviewers have mentioned, is used as answer with this quote: "Beauty is the promise of happiness" and architecture - when done well - is often beauty made manifest. This beauty is ephemeral and subject to decay, much as a cherry blossom will delight for a short while and then departs. Architectural appreciation and practice then necessitates allowing oneself to delight in the ephemeral (both the sensation and the object itself) beauty, celebrating what is required to create it and then finally celebrating the loss of that ephemeral beauty. This philosophy is applicable to life, as life is ephemeral. As de Botton notes, it often takes grief to notice the the beauty of the world again.
So what can architecture do? If done well, it can highlight ephemeral beauty of our world. When done poorly, it can highlight its ugliness. Architecture (and many of the arts, in general) I've come to realize, will never be able to save the world. Its impact is limited and its authors are many. Funnily enough, this is a realization that many people in other professions that I have spoken to (especially doctors) have had to come to. They, as individual practitioners and professions, will not be able to "save the world"; but at the best of their interventions may be able to make our world a little more palatable. A humbling, yet reassuring note that this little book has reinforced.