ABSTRACT
While universal aspirations remain essential in today’s world, universal paradigms are no longer sacrosanct. The shift has occurred in spurts. When architects moved in this direction during the 1970s most took only a small step, from unqualified absolutes to rigid dichotomies. Modernism vs. postmodernism prevailed, overlaid with hostile terms like radical vs. conservative, criticality vs. comfort, a return to avant-garde vs. kitsch and the centuriesold schism of theory vs. practice. As in religion or politics, such polarities of good and evil affirm the righteousness of one set of beliefs by invoking the threat of an invidious enemy. The vast territory “in-between” becomes suspect, usually disdained as dangerously compromised, at best muddled or simply banal.
