Reflection Prompt

Architecture and Values

What two famous buildings reveal about the people who built them

This unit argues that architecture has a revelatory function: great buildings say something about the values of the people who built them. Below are two famous buildings from very different cultures and time periods: the Empire State Building (1931, New York) and the Taj Mahal (1632–1653, Agra, India).

Aerial view of the stepped, tapering tower of the Empire State Building rising above Manhattan.

Empire State Building, 1931. Designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon. New York City. Aerial photograph by Sam Valadi (public domain, Wikimedia Commons).

The white marble Taj Mahal with its central dome and four minarets, reflected in a long pool.

Taj Mahal, 1632–1653. Agra, India. Photograph by Yann, edited by Jim Carter, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons).

The prompt

Choose one of these buildings. Using the four requirements from this unit (technical, functional, spatial, and revelatory), describe what values you think the building reveals. Consider: What does its scale communicate? How does it use materials and light? What does it say about the culture that produced it?

Be specific about which formal qualities lead you to your interpretation. A claim like "the Taj Mahal shows love" needs a detail behind it: the symmetry, the white marble, the reflecting pool. Which one carries your argument?

Your Reflection

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