[mhays]

Space travel and surgery require science. Aesthetics is art, and purely subjective.

Most forms of art are great opportunities for the artists to go nuts and do their own thing, because you can either look/hear/buy them or not, your choice. And naturally some people like avante garde art, but most don't pay much attention or actively dislike some or all of it. They certainly remain choosy about what's on their walls.

Architecture is the environment everyone has to live in, or walk past. We can't opt in or out, except for buildings we personally pay for. So architecture should be subject to the opinions of the public.

Would you tell a hair stylist to use their expertise and do what they want? Of course not. You'd tell them how you want it, despite your total lack of schooling on the subject. Despite being just some rube that has to live with the hair they create.

You can argue that you're paying for the hair while most people aren't paying for the buildings they walk past. But then you'd be giving in to uncontrolled capitalism, the dollar is king, and so on. Architectural theory doesn't tend to jibe with that concept.

Arguing with architects is generally pointless. But we're progressing. Many architects are finally beyond their myopia about what the public likes, and have now fallen back and retrenched at "the public is wrong".