In his 1977 classic, Morality and Architecture, the late historian David Watkin, while discussing the early roots of European modernism, wrote: “Here is a belief that design, which is surely of its very nature contrived, ought somehow to be ‘honest’ and uncontrived.” The notion of honesty, whether in structure or materials, is one of the tenets of modernism, from Frank Lloyd Wright to Louis Kahn. Yet one of the basic architectural decisions has always been what to reveal and what to conceal (such as in Mies’ beautiful Barcelona Pavilion, under construction above). With the exception of igloos and log cabins, building construction tends to consist of layers, one thing on top of another. Veneers, in the form of mosaics and thin marble slabs characterized traditional building, and non-load-bearing skins of varied materials continue to be the basis of contemporary construction. The reasons are both economic and aesthetic. Something inexpensive behind something nice. In other words, a contrivance.
