In contemporary society, there has been an increasing trend for modern architecture to resemble one another. In this short essay, I will delve into some reasons for this phenomenon and present both positive and negative impacts.
The fundamental reason for this is that the breakthrough in communicating technology has prompted the occurrence of this situation. In ancient times, every civilization has developed their own style of buildings, for example, Byzantine, Gothic, and oriental styles. However, the transportation technology at that age is not capable of transporting architects and designers to remote areas to mimic different styles. In today’s society, yet, thanks to effective communication, such as flight, shipping, etc., architects are easily accessible to other existing models of buildings, and therefore, it is no surprise for imitation to be found on a large scale, which makes modern buildings today monotonous. Besides, from an urbanization perspective, a large number of immigrants flock into major cities, which leads to an unavoidable outcome that flats and bungalows cannot accommodate those comers, so the high rise buildings have replaced the traditional ones. With time passing by, the steel jungle has gradually become the modern style of a city.
It is not certain whether this situation will affect our society positively or negatively. On the one hand, its economic merits are obvious. With more architectural references and more efficient network, the costs of designing a modern high-rise building are lower than before, which save the expense of design. On the other hand, this situation will also exert a devastating impact on architectural culture if it goes too far. In addition, it goes without saying that innovation plays a crucial role in almost every aspect of human civilization, and its absence would be catastrophic.
As conclusion, while similarity among modern architecture can bring about economic benefits, the diversity should not be ignored.
Resemble 相似
Delve into 探讨
Occurrence 发生
Byzantine 拜占庭
Gothic 哥特
Oriental 东方的
Monotonous 单调的
Bungalow 平房
Steel jungle 钢铁森林
Reference 参考
Catastrophic 灾难性的