February 16: Living is Not Enough

Many site the destruction of the Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St. Louis as the death of modern architecture. Why did this massive project fail so miserably? There is debate, but many site the modernist approach to architecture as living machines as the cause.

These buildings were created as low cost efficient places for people to live, not homes. People are more complex than machines. Creating something that works is rarely enough. Creating something that engages folks in a human way is what captures peoples hearts and eventually their finances.

Does your product do the job or meet human needs and desires?