Power Meaning in Architecture in the XXth century

Abstract

Throughout history, the architectural language has been exploited by political
leaders as a means of ideological assertion, mass control, domination and
manipulation. The rise of a community has been associated with the elevation of
new buildings, while the definitive conquest of a people was marked by the
destruction of its fortresses. Buildings have always been used as symbols of power,
because the messages communicated through architecture are long lasting and
strong. In order to promote their ideologies, dictatorial regimes employed
symbolical architectural values, historical and monumental styles, as well as wellknown
signs and symbols that commanded people’s respect.
“Les Grand Projets†of Mitterand regime are a contemporary example of using
architecture as a symbolical vehicle for propaganda and political assertion.
Although criticized for his authoritarian style, the quality and inventiveness of the
architecture promoted by the French president, his style and program coherence
are for sure to be preferred to many situations found in more democratic systems,
where the city is built without unity, obeying some immediate, isolated individual
interests. The architecture imposed by Mitterand is also much to be preferred to
the other extreme, the grandiloquence of pseudo classic dialects of the totalitarian
regimes. Hitler, Mussolini, Ceausescu, Stalin promoted a severe, monumental and
gigantesque architecture meant to impress and dominate.
In free democratic markets, the political power tends to be replaced by the power
of money. Architecture gets subordinated to the corporate image, commercial
purposes and the taste and preferences of the real-estate investors. Real democracy
would rather mean the citizens’ involvement in the decision making about their
built environment and the buildings important for their community life. The power
of people should be expressed in participative architecture and urbanism. For this
it is essential to train citizens in the spirit of democratic communication and
prepare them with a basic architectural culture, otherwise there will continue to be
room for manipulation in favor of various extraneous interests.