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Rybczynski’s making what I take to be a fairly conservative point, since he’s riffing on a forthcoming book, The Architecture of the Absurd: How “Genius” Disfigured a Practical Art, written by cranky former Boston University president John Silber and praised by (shudder) George Will. But it’s also a point often made by those of us who wish architects paid more attention to the people who have to live and work in their creations.
OK, but I’ve never been crazy about the building’s internal circulation — I mean, the long and convoluted path one has to take to get to the books. At the risk of being accused of piling provincialism on reaction, I’d have to say that the new Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana (which also occupies an entire city block in a downtown), does a better job of welcoming its many users. And, in the sense we’re using here, it’s not an icon either.
