But Are They Any Good?

I ran a workshop the other day on housing. In the morning we did vernacular housing from the workers cottage to the town house, and in the afternoon the modern apartment block. Using the vernacular as an introduction, it was easier to answer that question that looms unanswered in the blogs below; no matter the utopian vision, is modern housing any good?
In the morning, the drawings that made their way on to the flip chart illustrated an organic progression, where largely pre-industrial methods were marshalled in the service of shelter, heating, ventilation, transport, waste disposal, sociality, so called 'culture' and so on. The section drawing of a London townhouse and mews became quite an agglomeration as crappers and their soil pipes entered the fray, or as immigration and flight disturbed the social consensus. At each stage I asked the question; and where is the architects craft here?
It turned out the wasn't really too much for the architect to do.
On the other hand, by the afternoon the architects role was crystal clear; perfected 'units', cells, or modules get racked and stacked in some kind of frame, with the totality of what was previously 'organic' marshalled all in one go by the architect. Within this conception there were (of course) multiple occasions for creativity, and the role of the architect somewhat delicate; predicated on the need for virtue, working for the greater good in the tradition of the enlightenment.
I still haven't answered the question above, however the principle 'issues' surrounding 'housing' were pretty much solved by 1960, and if the architect was up to snuff, and you didn't mind appreciating his (usually his) generosity, what could be the problem?
It is the latter half of that conception that is problematic in terms of 'quality', for if you acknowledge the importance of so many other factors in constructing the built environment, the argument against modern housing is a bit like the argument for neoliberalism; the whole business is too complex to be controlled by experts. This means you can never (again) have the perfect city; and that mess is the law.
Which is a shame if you are a good architect, and a very good reason for architects to season themselves against the neoliberal establishment.

P.S. To wit, I woke up thinking about that funnel on the roof of L-C's Marseilles block. Of course it alludes to a ships funnel, but a ships funnel usually slopes backwards in the wind. Then I thought of a cartoon fart. It's a fucking cartoon fart! The Ancient Greeks would have cheered.

Top photo by David Granick. Lower photo Fondation Le Corbusier.