Weathering/Shadow/Memory

Readings:

David Leatherbarrow and Moshen Mostafavi, On Weathering: The Life of Buildings in Time (Cambridge: The M.I.T. Press, 1993) 4-135 (text only)

Adolfo Natalini, "Forward" and "Places," Figures of Stone (Milano: Electa Editrice, 1984) 7-15

Alex T. Anderson, "Thinking in Shadow" Column 5: Volume 25 (Seattle: Department of Architecture, University of Washington, 2001) 40-45

Question:
Architecture and weathering, for many architect it is their job to create buildings that can withstand the test of time in some way. We look to the past for our examples of how well buildings should withstand the test that time sets forth. Many of the buildings we look at ruins are now, but at the same time they are still examples to how 100years or more should effect a building.

However, recent trends in architecture have lead us to believe that allowing a building to age is a bad thing. We are constantly preforming mini face lifts on building to keep them looking younger and new. By doing so we gradually change the building from what it was meant to be into something else. The building gradually loses its soul. That said if nothing were done the building would slowly fall apart and be no more. Is there a happy medium for building to be allowed to age to that perfect point were we love them all the more without falling into despair? Can we create architecture that bends in the wind but does not break? Architecture that ages gracefully without the constant need for maintenance?

People, Place, Occasion

We remember things by where we were or what we were listening to at the time that an event happened. Some say that great architecture should always take you back to a time and a place, it should create a memory or cause you to remember something that happened before. Figuratively speaking, architecture should be living. It should breath, react, and respond to the inhabitants, us.

As architecture is now, very few if any of the buildings we create respond to us in such away that causes us to respond and be happy with it. What can architects do to make people enjoy a building more? Can architect create a building that is more human like? By human like I mean can it respond to environmental changes, with or without the help of human kind?