Peter Marino Quotes

Most of our cities built since the war are bland. They're modernist, they're cold, and now architects want to go back to that.

There's nothing Dutch about my architecture.

Contemporary architects tend to impose modernity on something. There is a certain concern for history, but it's not very deep.

There is no sadder tale in the annals of architecture than the virtual disappearance of the defining architectural form of the Modern Movement - publicly sponsored housing.

Downtown Toronto is a very good place to talk about the neutrality of modernist architecture. I'm sure this kind of box-building was interesting in the Twenties, Thirties and Forties, but I think it's absolutely ridiculous to build like this in 2013.

High among the unpredictable variables that endanger the survival of worthy buildings are the vagaries of taste.

You cannot save wonderful towns. You can only save wonderful towns by building new ones.

By 1970, the first stirrings of the revolt against Modernist orthodoxy in architecture had been felt, although it would be several years more until Postmodernism was widely accepted and made classical motifs permissible in high-style building design for the first time in decades.

In the '60s when I was a student, there was this campaign to destroy 75 percent of the old buildings in Paris, replacing them with modern architecture. I realized this as a dangerous utopia. This modern vision did not understand the richness of the city. Thankfully, such destruction did not happen.

The role of the architect as artist is an ancient one, but it was de-emphasized with the rise of modernism, which rejected the drawing-based Beaux-Arts tradition in favor of a more technocratic approach.

Architecture should be rooted in the past, and yet be part of our own time and forward looking.

I'm English enough to feel something of a gut-reaction to modernism, to continental philosophising and anything that smacks of a refusal to pay attention to the forensics: the empirical facts on the ground.

Modernism is an outmoded way of thinking about design: it just doesn't reflect the way we live now. It always puts forward this idea that the past is irrelevant to tomorrow - and tomorrow is all that matters. But the past is part of who we are.

That's the beauty of Mumbai. While some parts have grown rapidly, there are places like Churchgate that have retained their character.

So here I stand before you preaching organic architecture: declaring organic architecture to be the modern ideal.

Modernism in architecture went hand in hand with socialist and fascist projects to rid old Europe of its hierarchical past

You can't escape the influence of architectural history.

I am one of many people documenting damage and looting at ancient sites from space - it is such a crucial tool.

Art Nouveau got its inspiration from nature. The Bauhaus got its inspiration from engineering.

The 19th century became the age of the museum. Objects were scrambled for, specimens seized, and friezes and antiques grasped.

I became a fanatic of the architecture of Le Corbusier and I visited almost all his buildings and read all his books. Only later on did I discover that all the things that impressed me in his books, particular his ideology, he had picked up from Auguste Perret.

Personally, what I would like the most is to work on a project that would aid the historic rehabilitation of Havana. It's a shame - and it gives me tremendous sadness - to see the precious buildings, to see a city, which could be the most beautiful in Latin America, falling apart and with very little money for renovations.

My aim is not just to help preserve what is left of mountain life, but to create a centre where people can study and learn about it.

I'm really into architecture, I'm a member of the Brutalist Appreciation Society; I'm a member of the Postmodern Society. I write letters to save buildings.

I want the Dead Sea, like Masada, to be part of UNESCO's world heritage.