Since when did the Bauhaus become the bad guy, and crown moldings with
dentils the good guy?
Let me introduce myself: my name is Gabrielle and I'm a preservation
carpenter living and working in Rhode Island.
A couple of thoughts: while we're at it, why don't we resume the
unending discussion about the difference between art and arts and
crafts? It seems equally relevant and just as impossible to bring to a
conclusion.
Other ideas: let us talk about materials. The gothic style (amongst
other things) really was an expression of pushing a material to it
furthest limits. If you build something in the gothic style, is that
what you are doing as well, or are you playing dress-up?
And: is there a connection between the fact that Germany is home to
both the invention of the term "Weltanschauung" and the birth of the
Bauhaus?
Also: As a person working directly with materials such as wood, I can
attest to the fact that the temptation to make life easier by buying
rather than hand producing is great. I think we saw the culmination of
this temptation in Victorian buildings. (The Bauhaus was, of course,
in part a reaction to Victorian ornamental excess).
I ask: if you have new materials available, and ignore them or their
potential, is that not just a deadening form of nostalgia? Do we need
to create a new way OR an evolved way of building in this changed
world to explore our potential?
And so I'm forced to conclude:

     There once was a house
     'twas built by a mouse,
     All out of twigs and twine.

     Along came a man,
     Who sat on his can,
     And now there's no house for the mouse.

     So the moral of the story,
     Although it lacks glory,
     Is that traditions are fine,
     But you gotta adapt to the time.

Gabrielle