Labels and What a Flag Can Do

By: Denver Sells

It is interesting to view architecture as a label instead of a building style.  I know that statement seems contradictory for an architect but I believe that in certain cases this is true.  For instance, looking at the works and proposed ideas of Albert Speer for the glorification of the Nazi regime, our immediate judgment is that of distaste.   We were raised on the label that the Nazis were bad, and everything that they did was a dark stain on the world, and yes most of it was.  Looking at the works of Speer, our first instinctive reaction is “oh that’s Nazi related, we don’t want to like it.”  However, when you look past the swastika flags and the eagles of supremacy, we start to see similarities and we find ourselves taking back our first thoughts and almost being ashamed to have jumped to that kind of conclusion that fast.  Instead, we start to notice the parallels with something that also inspires national pride just like those buildings used to.  It becomes apparent that we’ve seen this powerful, supreme and whitely clean idea before.

When I toured Washington DC and then was asked what I liked most about it, I commented on the cleanliness, the impressiveness and the sense of inspiration the buildings give for national pride.  When you compare this with the Nazi regime buildings and ideas of Albert Speer you find an eerie similarity and get the sense that this was not by accident. So what is it?

Again, it comes to labels.  Since the Greeks and Romans, we have been analyzing this “classical” idea and type of architecture. Since then, this idea of a grand, clean, white and powerful building as a symbol for that nation has cyclically perpetuated itself through the years.  Washington DC and Berlin (under Speer) have this in common: the Neo-Classical movement.  This common thread of the similar style is what makes these two, completely different labels, the same style.  Don’t’ get me wrong though in no way am I comparing Nazism to our Democratic United States of America, but I am however just pointing out the similarities that our history and education has taught us to disassociate from each other as quickly as possible.  Take for instance the Reichstag and Capitol building.  Both exemplify the Vitruvian principles of repetition.  Each have a large dome, and both have heavy stone facades. As well, in regards to their large promenades and grounds surrounding and leading up to them, again we see similarities.  This all stems from one concurrent style, but yet it keeps two different titles and labels in our minds.  This naive way of looking at these buildings and how “different” they are makes us step back and realize something more about ourselves and the culture we grew up with.  It is amazing how the color of the flag waving on a building can change our perception of that building.  Its not a good trait, but its something that we need to be conscious about as we move forward.