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(The Architecture of Happiness

Alain de Botton

Until 18th Century most houses were built according to what architects directly experienced, so usually got regional architecture. Then pattern books came out. One spectacular outcome Castle Ward in N Ireland. Local aristocrat and wife couldn't agree on style of house - he wanted classic Palladian with columns and pediments; she wanted Gothic with pinnacles and a castellated roofline. The fed up architect finally gave them both what they wanted - traditional at the front; Gothic castle at the back.

A French industrialist hired Le Corbusier to design houses for his workers. Designed epitome of Modernism - a series of undecorated boxes with large rectangular windows. Le C saw this as rejection of trad French 'dressing up' but workers spent days in dreary concrete hangars - at end of their shift the last thing they wanted was to be reminded of modern industry. So within a few years, all ID shells differentiated with sloping roofs and picket fences etc.















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