Architecture And Democracy – Claude Fayette Bragdon – Platanus Publishing

“The world wa world war represents not the triumph, but the birth of democracy. The true ideal of democracy-the rule of a people by the demos, or group soul-is a thing unrealized. How then is it possible to consider or discuss an architecture of democracy-the shadow of a shade? It is not possible to do so with any degree of finality, but by an intention of consciousness upon this juxtaposition of ideas-architecture and democracy-signs of the times may yield new meanings, relations may emerge between things apparently unrelated, and the future, always existent in ever y present moment, may be evoked by that strange magic which resides in the human mind. Architecture, at its worst as at its best, reflects always a true image of the thing that produced it; a building is revealing even though it is false, just as the face of a liar tells the thing his words endeavor to conceal. This being so, let us make such architecture as is ours declare to us our true estate.”