Why ugly buildings are bad for the environment

Speed is a hallmark trait of the 21st. century; from fast food to fast fashion, our digital and global moment demands a pace previously unimaginable. But with speed comes compromise at the cost of our environment, health, and culture. An antidote to our fast-paced, technologically driven lives resides in carving out space for deliberateness; for sl... See more

The Cultural Tutor perfectly sums up why beauty matters: “what’s the danger of a world without beauty?” they ask. “If everything is simply functional, simply useful, then life becomes a mere conveyor belt. It turn humans into machines of consumption, labour, & reproduction. Aren’t we more than that?”

But when architecture falls out of sync with the conditions we live in, home begins to feel more and more precarious. The reason we dislike contemporary architecture is because it fails to achieve this essential purpose, to, as the architect Antonio Sant’Elia put it, “freely and audaciously harmonize man with his environment”.

Sustainability without beauty (think cyberpunk-smartphone-on-wheels type EVs) doesn’t make sense! When something is beautiful, people care about it and take care of it. When something emanates beauty, one can almost feel the care and love that went into it. Beauty, in nature, is an expression of harmony, aliveness and love. Sustainability that does

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