ABSTRACT
The use to which a building is put can change, and it can also be valued more or less highly at different periods. Architecture lies at the intersection of art, that is in search of a meaning, and science, that needs to work flawlessly. In this sense architecture is unique: as art, it can be analyzed from an iconographical point of view; as science, it serves very pragmatic ends. Architecture provides spaces in which to live, work, and play. Dwelling architecture for low-income households has long attracted stigma, because of its uncreative, blunt and often anonymous architectural language and its frequent failure to harmonize with its surroundings. The disasters of large-scale high-rise projects such as Pruitt Igoe and Bijlmermeer led urban planners, architects and politicians to rethink the concept of affordable housing and accept that architecture needs to be creatively and innovatively designed and to fit into its surroundings.
