Recommended Reading — National Civic Art Society

Americans’ Preferred Architecture for Federal Buildings

In October 2020, the National Civic Art Society released the results of a survey, titled Americans’ Preferred Architecture for Federal Buildings, that found that nearly three-quarters of Americans (72%) – including majorities across political, racial/ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic lines – prefer traditional architecture for U.S. courthouses and federal office buildings. The survey of 2,000 U.S. adults was conducted online by the non-partisan polling firm The Harris Poll on behalf of National Civic Art Society. You can read the survey report HERE.

American Institute of Architects’ Survey of the Public Showing That Americans’ Favorite Buildings Are Classical and Traditional, not Modernist

Frangos, Alex. “In the Eye of the Beholder: Public, Designers at Odds On What's a Beautiful Building.” Wall Street Journal, Feb. 7. 2007.

“The new survey [of Americans' favorite 150 buildings] also could be seen as an indictment of contemporary architecture. Other than the Bellagio, no buildings from the last decade made it to the top 30. Only two in the top 20 were built in the last 35 years and both have special meanings: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial (10) and the World Trade Center (19). Americans preferred older buildings that evoke ancient architectural styles such as Gothic, Greek and Roman traditions. Of the top 50, only 12 can be described as ‘modern-looking,’ with square angles and lots of glass and steel.”

Empirical Study Finding That Americans’ Prefer Neoclassical Designs for Courthouses

Nasar, Jack L., “What Should Courthouses Look Like?” Architexturez, 2020.

“The findings agree with consistent findings that architects misjudge public likely public impressions of a design, and that most non-architects dislike ‘modern’ design and have done so for almost a century. Perhaps, through repeated experience, U.S. citizens have learned to see neo-classical designs or designs with those features as good examples of public buildings such as courthouses.”

Empirical Studies Showing the Divergence Between Laypersons and (Modernist) Architects in Their Aesthetic Evaluation of Buildings

Brown, G., & Gifford, R. (2001). “Architects Predict Lay Evaluations of Large Contemporary Buildings: Whose Conceptual Properties?” J. Environ. Psychol. 21, 93-99.

“Evidence suggests that architects as a group cannot predict the public's aesthetic evaluations of architecture.”

Gifford, R., Hine, D. W., Muller-Clemm, W. & Shaw, K. T. (2002) “Why Architects and Laypersons Judge Buildings Differently: Cognitive Properties and Physical Bases”, Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, Vol. 19, No. 2, 131-148.

“There is abundant evidence that architects’ aesthetic evaluations of buildings differ from those of laypersons… Nasar (1988) found that architects did not merely disagree with laypersons about the aesthetic qualities of buildings, they were unable to predict how laypersons would assess buildings, even when they were explicitly asked to do so. It would seem that many architects do not know, from a lay viewpoint, what a delightful building looks like. If we are ever to have more delightful buildings in the eyes of the vast majority of the population who are not architects, this conundrum needs study and solutions.”

Ghomeshi, M., Nikpour, M. & Jusan, M. M. (2012). “Evaluation of Conceptual Properties by Layperson in Residential Façade Designs”. Arts and Design Studies, 3, 13-17.

“Evidence reveals that architects’ aesthetic evaluations of buildings differ from those of laypersons. If architects are to create buildings that are pleasurable in the eyes of others, they must know how laypersons recognize and evaluate buildings...”

Hubbard, P. (1997). “Diverging attitudes of planners and the public: an examination of architectural interpretation”. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research,Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 317-328.

“Previous research has revealed important differences in architectural evaluation between professionals and the lay public… This paper summarizes the findings of a study which set out to investigate these issues, specifically focusing on differences in architectural interpretation between the lay public, planning students, and practicing planning professionals…”

Nasar, J.L., (1994). “Urban Design Aesthetics: The Evaluative Qualities of Building Exteriors”. Environment and Behavior 26, 377-401.

“Concerning large-scale projects, there has been repeated evidence of architects’ aesthetic faliures (Blake, 1974; Gans, 1974). Research has also shown a rift between what architects like and what the public likes (Devlin & Nasar, 1989; Groat, 1982; Hershberger, 1969; Nasar, 1989b). For example, in one study in which architects and other professionals evaluated 40 houses, the architects most liked the designs that other professionals liked least and vice versa (Devlin & Nasar, 1989). The disparity between design professionals and the public becomes more critical for many large-scale projects in which the client and the user differ, and the designer has little contact with the users.”