In May 2024, I gave a talk on ordinary people’s preferences in architecture at a Beauty and Ugliness in Architecture conference in Oslo, Norway. Many members of the Arkitekturupproret (Architectural Uprising), a grassroots rebellion against Modernist architecture, were there.
In my lecture, I highlighted the National Civic Art Society / Harris Poll survey of 2,000 adults finding that nearly three-quarters of Americans (72%) – including majorities across political, racial/ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic lines – prefer traditional architecture for U.S. courthouses and federal office buildings. For a Bloomberg News story on the survey, see “Classical or Modern Architecture? For Americans, It’s No Contest.”
You can watch the video of my talk HERE.