Line #5 GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff/Architecture


1	* The much-derided "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googie_architecture Googie architecture]]" or "Space Age in cheap plastic and concrete" earned a suspicious popularity among Communist Eastern European administrations, where it stuck for long after the West has abandoned it. By the late [[TheSeventies 1970s]] to early [[TheEighties 1980s]], [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture it embodied the future]] to the common public, being the design of choice for {{amusement park}}s, [[http://www.tai-tai.net/upload/articole/FOTO-Cum-aratau-statiunile-de-la-Marea-Neagra-in-perioada-comunista-1370799304-1.569802-%5B640x480%5D.jpg seaside resorts]], [[http://www.infopensiuni.ro/cazare-bucuresti/obiective-turistice-bucuresti/circul-globus_5814/poza-glob.jpg public buildings]], airports and large rail stations. While TheEighties cooled down the enthusiasm for the style, [[WhyWereBummedCommunismFell many of these buildings were still admired]] throughout [[TheNineties the 1990s]], symbols of a bygone age of glory. Only after the TurnOfTheMillennium did they start to become bulldozed and replaced.
2	* The Bauhaus school of architecture was founded in Germany in 1919. When the Nazis rose to power, many Jewish German architects moved to Israel. Tel Aviv is today one of the most prominent if not the most prominent examples of Bauhaus architecture, with its "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_City_of_Tel_Aviv White City]]". (The "White City" style, we should note, isn't perfectly Bauhaus, as numerous concessions were made to Tel Aviv's Middle Eastern climate; large windows were replaced with small ones to prevent overheating, coupled with balconies for people to take in the breeze.)
3	* The Gothic style of architecture originated in France and during its heyday was called the "French style" as it spread over Europe. Then it fell out of fashion during the Renaissance (the name "Gothic" was coined then, and was meant as a synonym for "barbaric"), but was later rediscovered in Germany in the late 18th century, largely through the efforts of [[UsefulNotes/DichterAndDenker Johann Wolfgang Goethe]] who, in an influential booklet, erroneously described Gothic architecture as a quintessentially German style. After this, German architects started to build in a Neo-Gothic style again to, for example, finish Cologne Cathedral. At about the same time, the British ''also'' developed a taste for Gothic Revival architecture, in large part because the French did not use it, and--just as importantly--both Republican France and the new United States had used "rational" neoclassical architecture as an expression of their ideals, so naturally Britain would use the style to represent its older, less radical approach. This is precisely for this reason that the Palace of Westminster, a.k.a. the Houses of Parliament, were rebuilt in a Gothic Revival style after the original burned down in 1834--although because the ''architect'' they picked to do it, Charles Barry, was trained in the neoclassical style, its ''floor plan'' is actually quite symmetrical and "rational" in the way neoclassical buildings are (when the second man on the project, the much more committed Gothic Revivalist Augustus Pugin, was asked to comment on the result, he famously lamented, "All Grecian, sir; Tudor details on a classic body"). It took a little longer for the French to appreciate Gothic architecture again. In France, Victor Hugo's ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' (published 1831) is generally seen as the book that made them proud enough of their Gothic cathedrals to start work on restoring them (by which point the Germans had been at it for over 30 years, and the Brits for 20).
4	* When it comes to architecture, this trope could as well be renamed "Everybody loves AncientGrome". While the very fact that AncientGrome is a trope owes mostly to Roman love for Greek architecture (which is the most lasting and evident thing any culture leaves behind for future millennia), almost all "Western" cultures since have imitated the Romans in one way or the other. Both the predecessor and the successor of Gothic church architecture were inspired by Roman forms and the Pantheon in Rome (which still holds the world record for the biggest unreinforced concrete cupola) has been copied so often that [[OnceOriginalNowCommon the genuine article is starting to look generic]]. When the Americans were building their new Republic and representative buildings to symbolize it, where did they look? Why AncientGrome of course. And that style was in turn copied by most European states that became Republics later than the US had. Even some communist states copied what are in essence American interpretations of Roman copies of Greek styles. Latin America is almost as enarmored with this particular style as the US is as most of those Republics achieved independence in the first half of the 19th century when the US were still seen as a shining beacon of liberty and a force for the ''liberation'' of the Americas rather than the negative view many Latin American governments today espouse of US government actions past and present.[[note]] The UsefulNotes/MexicanAmericanWar resulted in ''a lot'' of BrokenPedestal feelings among the political left in Mexico as the place they had always looked to for guidance on their lofty ideals had suddenly acted as brazenly imperialist as the European powers they largely despised. However, by that time the "American republican style" for lack of a better term had already taken root[[/note]]
5	* The "urban highway on stilts" was only seen as the best thing since sliced bread in the West for a rather short timeframe. In Europe nearly none were built before the war and by the end of the 1950s new construction had almost ceased entirely. In the US their heyday lasted a bit longer, roughly from the 1930s (when some were built as "make work" projects during the Great Depression) to the 1970s when the first global oil crisis, the emerging "green" movement and "highway revolts" started to gain traction and delayed or stopped several urban highways or reduced their scope. By the time the Loma Prieta earthquake hit UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco in the 1980s and damaged the (elevated) Embarcadero Freeway, the debate had shifted sufficiently to let tearing the freeway down become a realistic and thinkable proposal, which was ultimately enacted. More and more cities have since replaced, relocated or removed urban highways all throughout Europe, North America and East Asia and few have ever looked back. \
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7	However, in Latin America, urban highways on stilts are still seen as the pinnacle of urban development; according to pundits, that's because their old popularity in the US has made them aspirational symbols for people and governors of less developed countries. with high profile projects including the "Second Floor" of Mexico City's beltway that still has to this day strong associations with president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and a proposal for an elevated expressway in Guadalajara, Mexico that was drafted with great enthusiasm and only scrapped when ecological activists protested fiercely. The pace of their construction is actually ''increasing'' in cities like Managua, Nicaragua, where a socialist (!) government led by an former guerrillero who used to fight against UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan thinks they are the thing a country with hardly any cars needs -- not because they will be actually useful, but because their people think an elevated highway is a symbol of modernity.
8	* While indoor shopping malls have been steadily declining in the West due to the popularity of online shopping and the "retail apocalypse," or the disapperance of major retail chains, shopping malls remain popular in the Middle East, especially Dubai. The main reason for this is that they're indoor, enclosed spaces and give people a comfortable place to walk around in the desert heat.

Context GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff / Architecture