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Old Posted Dec 29, 2006, 4:32 PM
edluva edluva is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 6,134
architecture is becoming art, and with architecture going global, architects are no longer tied to their hometowns anymore. So now that art, if it does reflect the culture of a hometown, becomes contextually irrelevant as it's just as likely to be built in a foreign place as it is back home.

It's like most artifacts of pop culture - all of them had a local cultural origin in the beginning, but with the quick dissemination of information in a global economy, that locality is quickly forgotten. Architects are like pop-stars now, and their palatte is the entire world.

Adding to this is the more tangible phenomenon that the global economy increasingly universalizes the materials and methods through which buildings are built, as well as the methods though which money is made etc. Just as the cultural influences on auto-companies have become less distinguishable. The world is becoming a village.

Nowadays, I take comments such as "you are so americanized" or "americans are such and such" with a grain of salt. When speaking on a personal level, what makes "american" so unique? or "french" for that matter?
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