Adulation and Demonisation: Materiality vs. Morality

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For centuries and centuries we’ve built – and the diversity in our global built environment is a testament to that. The many different cultures around the globe have had different ways of building throughout history, adapting locally found materials to construct their structures. Today, in our globalized present, building materials are transported across the globe far from their origins, a situation that means two buildings on completely opposites sides of the world can be more or less identical. 

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As the architecture profession become more formalized, and the categorization of architecture “movements” became more mainstream, a wider understanding of architectural elements has also emerged amongst the wider public. There is general consensus, for example, on which building typology will mostly host offices, or in some countries, what visual elements differentiate high-end housing from social housing.