Comments by "earthstick" (@earthstick) on "Sir Roger Scruton: Professing Right Ideas for 50 Years. Discussing Beauty, Academia & Conservatism." video.

  1. I'd like Roger to give some examples of modern utilitarian architecture that puts function first. I live in Bristol. If I take bridges as an example then Bristol has it's famous Clifton suspension bridge. It is purely functional and straight. Spanning the river in the shortest distance. Then I compare that to the most modern bridges in Bristol which rather than being straight, instead they have purposely built them in S shapes. They are longer than necessary, surely more costly and narrower than they could have been if the money had been spent functionally. It appears there is no good reason for this vanity. I am making the point that utilitarian can indeed be beautiful and useful in one. Modern materials and construction have enabled architecture to be boundless. As a result, all manner of weird and unnecessary shapes are now possible. There can be beauty in function and I think we should try and attain that.
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