The EGO

 
Accept the presupposition that the EGO is akin to an architect. Above all, an architect is a decision maker, the form giver, but what if he is up to no good?

There is an 'approval/rejection foreground/background problem', seldom reckoned with, in the wilful insistence to build. It is one thing to make a building relevant and quite another to treat the irrelevant as important.

Buildings envelope Being with meaning. Interpreting meaning is the sticking point of the culture wars. What does architecture mean? Everything. It is a religious meaning. To evaluate architectural merit according to its historical canons is not an option. In civil society, it is a sacred duty.

The modern architect is an intellectual. He is somewhat of an aesthete who can drop names but he is out of depth when it comes to symbolic representations. He ignores harsh realities like rain and dust on one hand while with the other his designs are deliberately harsh on the eye. His buildings accentuate the irrelevant and celebrate the superfluous. His EGO is incoherent. For himself, he chooses to reside in a restored Georgian townhouse.

Beauty is acceptance. Ugliness is rejection. At least that is how it would appear in the psychology of aesthetic appreciation. The antidote to ugliness and narcissism awaits the awakening kiss. The EGO, saved from the craven hunger for fame, will come to desire wisdom on the face of his future works.