I’ve said goodbye to the overworked notion that architecture can save the world.
This quote by Peter Zumthor (1943-), echos the wisdom of his years of experience. I may have misunderstood, but in architectural school, I am sure they tried to convince us we could change the world with our designs if they were good enough. While we can evoke some great emotion with a breathtaking space, and while we can plan a space to make someone’s work easier due to proper configuration of the facilities; halting wars, eliminating bigotry and more, are not outcomes of a well designed building.
You can read more about Peter Zumthor on Wikipedia at this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Zumthor
You can read more of these quotes in the book : ‘the ARCHIITECT says’, compiled and edited by Laura S. Dushkes, published by the Princeton Architectural Press. She is the architectural librarian at the firm NBBJ in Seattle.