People/ Place/ Occasion (I missed it for some reason)

How can we (as architects) design for a specific occasion? How can we communicate the occasion through our design?

Landscape/Site/Time

After listening to Mr. Brook's lecture, I wonder how could a great architect make such a mistake in terms of landscape? I'm speaking of the Farnsworth House by Mies van der Rohe. I know everyone makes mistakes but why build a home with a lack of understanding? Do you think that landscape was a concern of Mies and his team? Was it just a bad mistake? or Do you think landscape is an important element in the eyes of an architect?

Weathering/Shadow/Memory

Why is it necessary to understand how a building weathers? Nothing in this world really lasts a long period of time. Our world isn't about being frugal. It's about buying new things when something gets too old or breaks. In theory, if the building is going to get old, then why bother about understanding how it weathers? Can't it just be refurbished if a little mold grows on it anyway?

Beginnings/Order/Proportion

What aspect of architecture do you think makes it a work of art? Is it the way it looks? Is it the way one moves through it? Or is it something more...like a feeling one gets? What building do you consider a work of art and why?

The Hand Vs. The Machine

I feel that true craft is about the ability of the hand to create ideas of the mind. Why do u think that this type of craft has been replaced by machines? This action didn't happen overnight. It has been fading long before technology really existed. Why is this?

Sustainability

In William McDonough's sermon, "Design, Ecology, Ethics and the Making of Things," a thought of his got me thinking. He said that when he came from the far East, he thought that America was made of people with lives, be instead he discovered that America was filled with "consumers with lifestyles (5)." How does this view of America effect sustainability and its practice?

Dying Local Cultures

After reading some of these works, history is what pops into my head. Remembering Mr. Stevens talk about the Mycenaeans and the Minoans. I remember that the Mycenaeans were known for the Lion's Gate and the thick, local stone that was used to make many of their entrances and walls. The Minoans were a colorful bunch that used very vibrant colors in their architecture and frescoes. I also remember the inverted columns that they were also known for.
The main thing that both of these civilizations have in common is that they are now extinct. No one really knows what happened to them. Many suggest that during the fall of these civilizations, some of the citizens moved into other more thriving cultures. I'm assuming that this is what happened.
Now...my point...maybe we are like the Mycenaeans and the Minoans. Maybe now our local culture is dying because many people move to other cultures, other places, and other people. Instead of letting the culture completely die, we live with the memories of what it once was or we take what our local culture once was, and we combine it with another culture (like the once Mycenaeans and Minoans may have done). We now use colors in our designs. Italy is now known for beautiful frescoes. Maybe this is what global or universal means. Maybe it's one culture with subsets of many cultures. If this is what globalization means, then maybe this is our progress. Is this destiny? Is globalization progress? Is there a way to stop this cycle? Is it really a bad thing?