"It does not seem to be realized that hundreds of thousands of [people] spend the bulk of their lives with nothing better to look on than the ghastly prospect offered by these back yards, the squalid ugliness of which is unrelieved by a scrap of fresh green to speak of spring, or a falling leaf to tell of autumn... If, instead of being wasted in stuffy yards and dirty back streets, the space which is available for a number of houses were kept together, would make quite a respectable square or garden."
Raymond Unwin, Cottage Plans and Common Sense, 1902
'Enough is Enough'
On the subject of architecture and design, there is perhaps no quote more widely recognized than Mies Van der Rohe's mantra, "Less is More." Since the coining of this phrase, other architects have manufactured similar phrases as a way of commenting on and/or critiquing Van der Rohe's minimalist spatial design ideology. For instance, the maximalist counter-mantra, "More is More," or architect Robert Ventura's "Less is a Bore," or architect Bjarke Ingels' phrase, "Yes is More," coined in his architectural comic book.
I propose an additional alternative to Van der Rohe's mantra that I believe more accurately reflects the reality of modern architecture: "Enough is Enough."
Most modern architects and designers can attest that there's more nuance in architectural design than Mies assumes in his quote. His mantra struggles to account for many of the problems that the current built-environment poses to architects and designers. For instance, the modern urban fabric of the United States leaves much to be desired by residents today, what with the rise of the age of the strip mall, the "stroad" (i.e. Street/road; a type of thoroughfare that poorly and dangerously combines the functions of both streets and roads), the non-descript glass skyscraper, and so on... The banality of the built-environment aside, there's also important matters such as climate change, the international housing shortage, hostile architecture, gentrification, public safety, socioeconomic equity, etc. that modern architects and designers must be aware of in their work.
All things considered, architects and designers shouldn't design according to Van der Rohe's mantra, because it is up to each designer to know when "enough is enough" on any given project. It is not "enough" to base architecture and design solely on the mantra, "Less is More." As an aspiring architect and urban planner, I hope to design with an intimate understanding of the needs of the client, the project, the site, the environment, and the greater urban fabric, regardless of whether the design calls for "less" or "more."
Biography
My name is Mason Spann, and I'm an aspiring architect and urban planner currently working as a residential landscape designer in Woodstock, Georgia. I received a Bachelor of Arts in art history and architectural studies from Emory University, with a focus on architectural history, socialist spatial design theory, and urban planning. After concluding my undergraduate studies, I decided to dedicate time to developing my portfolio for graduate school and earning professional experience that can count towards my AXP for my architect's license. Now, I work at a small residential landscape design-build firm directly under the company's PLA, where I assist on all levels of the design process, from initial consultation, to designing and rendering, to revisions and client presentations, to permitting and inspections, to staking and construction.
Ultimately, my life goal is to affect positive, progressive change on the built environment through policymaking, education, research, and architectural practice. This is why becoming both a licensed architect and urban planner is essential to the realization of this goal. By becoming a licensed architect, my plan is to focus on housing. More specifically, I'm interested in social housing and experimental building typologies that make facilitates equitable access to housing and eases the transition from renting property to owning property. By becoming an urban planner, I intend to affect local policy and design cities in a way that prioritizes pedestrians & walkability, facilitates equitable access to public amenities, and fosters denser, mixed-use communities with a greater variety of housing typologies and overall interconnectivity.
