A Theory of Architecture
Encyclopedia
A Theory of Architecture is a somewhat controversial book on Architecture
by Nikos Salingaros
, published in 2006 by Umbau-Verlag, Solingen, ISBN 3-937954-07-4. Glowing cover blurbs by Kenneth G. Masden II, Duncan G. Stroik
, Michael Blowhard, and Dean A. Dykstra. Preface by Prince Charles, and Foreword by Kenneth G. Masden II. This book is a re-working of previously published articles used to teach a senior architecture studio class. Four of the twelve chapters were originally written in collaboration, and the co-authors include Michael Mehaffy, Terry Mikiten, Debora Tejada, and Hing-Sing Yu.
, Steven Pinker
, and Edward Osborne Wilson. Ever since Benoit Mandelbrot
mentioned that traditional architecture was more intrinsically fractal than 20th-Century buildings, people have been intrigued about the possibility of understanding architectural form in mathematical terms. The fractal nature of natural structures is evident in topography, and people have noticed that traditional architecture blends better with
the landscape.
Salingaros builds upon Christopher Alexander
’s work, including Notes on the Synthesis of Form
, A Pattern Language
, and The Nature of Order
. Salingaros has collaborated with Alexander for many years, and was one of the editors of "The Nature of Order
". He proposes mathematical laws of scaling, argues for an essential role for fractals in architecture, and describes rules for coherence among subdivisions that can help produce a more pleasing design. These are, in effect, original aesthetic rules coming from science rather than from any traditional artistic sources. Yet, like Alexander, Salingaros argues that this design theory corresponds more closely to what human beings have evolved to appreciate. The book introduces many innovative science-based ways of approaching design, and opposes abstract or formal methods based on imageability.
. Like Prince Charles, Salingaros is a great admirer of Islamic architecture
, and the design theory he presents is claimed to be equally valid for Classical, Islamic, or any other vernacular or traditional architecture. Salingaros’ book presents a very different view of architecture and design from the teaching texts used for courses in architecture schools during the past several decades. He criticizes present-day architectural education for continuing to rely uncritically on models that he argues lead automatically to non-adaptivity and unsustainability. If one can get beyond the natural reaction to such criticisms, then designers will find much useful material for a new approach to architectural education.
Anthropologists K. Sorvig and J. Quillien commented: “The spirit of Jacob Bronowski
permeates the work of Nikos Salingaros. "A Theory of Architecture" takes us directly to the heart of difficult questions. Salingaros explores ways to clarify and formalize our understanding of aesthetic forms in the built environment, using mathematics, thermodynamics, Darwinism, complexity theory and cognitive sciences. He postulates that cross-cultural universals derived from scaling rules in nature govern human appreciation of architecture.”
Architect and educator Ashraf Salama observed: “This book is of great value to architectural educators. It helps them correct some of the misconceptions inherited in architectural education … Knowledge is usually presented to students in a retrospective way where abstract and symbolic generalizations used to describe research results do not convey the feel of the behavior of the phenomena they describe; the late Donald Schon
emphasized this view in 1988 … Rather than giving students ready-made interpretations about the work of star architects, this book offers a deeper insight into the understanding of the true essence of architecture. This is a marvelous piece and I suggest it to architectural educators as an excellent textbook for theory courses introduced in both undergraduate and graduate programs of architecture worldwide.”
Individual chapters have been translated into several different languages.,,
Salingaros utilizes the work of Richard Dawkins
, especially the meme
model, to explain how architectural typologies and design elements are transmitted in society. An innovative application, but one that underlies a trenchant criticism of modernist
, post-modernist
, and deconstructivist
architectural styles. Salingaros claims they are not really adaptive: he argues that they transmit in society in the manner of an advertising jingle
, and not because of intrinsic worthwhile qualities. Despite supporting arguments that are explored in this book, this is a troubling suggestion.
and Warren Weaver
. The terminology arises from an analogy with biological forms. Salingaros distinguished between “organized” and “unorganized” complexity, going further to claim innate (biologically based) positive advantages of the former.
At least for those who like traditional buildings, the correlation between Salingaros’ “life” measure and the perceived degree of life in a building is high. Minimalist and deconstructivist
buildings, on the other hand, rate very low, and this is a point of controversy with most architects. Christopher Alexander
reproduces Salingaros’ results in Book 1 of “The Nature of Order
”, saying that: “It is telling that a simply constructed arithmetical function, based on the considerations of the nature of living structure, no matter how crudely, could get these kinds of results at all. It shows that, while the question itself may be a million times more subtle, there is something tangible, and ultimately measurable, in the degree of life the living structure has.”
. Contemporary architectural thinking has recently been moving in this direction, and this book advances the field forward. It is generally acknowledged nowadays that Architectural theory
has degenerated into a narrow point of view, neglecting architectural space and meaning. In proposing a broader discourse, contemporary theorists are turning once again to phenomenology
. Christopher Alexander
and Salingaros have moved past the limited philosophical tools of phenomenology to derive evidence-based
results. Evidence-based design
is already being used in the innovative design of healing environments such as hospitals and health-care facilities. In parallel with intellectual advances in other fields driven by the revolution in scientific research at the end of the millennium, authors such as Salingaros, Alexander, and others seek to build theoretical knowledge in architecture from experimental findings.
These arguments are now being adopted and supplemented by a group of architects applying biophilia
, a term coined by Edward Osborne Wilson to describe an intrinsic, genetic predisposition of human beings towards structures found in other living objects such as animals and plants. The key researchers in biophilic design refer to Salingaros’ work, and to chapters of this book in particular.,
and used in architecture as well as in software design. He earlier wrote an influential paper "The Structure of Pattern Languages", which described the combinatorics of patterns necessary to use them effectively. This applies both to software
and to architectural and urban design
. In "A Theory of Architecture", Salingaros shows how a Pattern Language
and a Form Language combine into an Adaptive Design Method. The discussion, while fairly abstract, digs at the scientific foundations of design, having more in common with Evolvable hardware
than with the more philosophical discussions found in contemporary Architectural theory
.
perceives and conceives architectural form, and postulates that fractal and other organizational mechanisms play a key role in perception. It then argues that human beings naturally prefer fractal, organized structures, based on how the mind works. Most modern evolutionary biologists accept the idea that evolution is dependent on the geometry of the natural environment, and thus must be consistent with biological structure and morphology. However, the view that selection has shaped the mind to prefer certain shapes and configurations is more controversial.
. Being easy to build, those simple typologies are passed on globally and now dominate world architecture. “One of the strengths of the International Style
was that the design solutions were indifferent to location, site, and climate”. Nevertheless, by not allowing architectural form the freedom to adapt to a particular set of local circumstances, the built environment has tended further and further away from Sustainability
.
bundled inside a social meme
. The model suggests that such memetic replication models human culture, in which building and urban typologies proliferate for reasons other than their utility. The contention is that typologies that get passed on are the ones whose encapsulation is more appealing. Salingaros and Terry Mikiten propose that encapsulation helps an architectural meme to survive and reproduce. In particular, phenomena such as (possibly impractical) architectural fashions, where clients enable certain memes that do not promote mental health and feelings of wellbeing to reproduce, can be explained as encapsulations helping their enclosed memes to replicate. The converse is also true: an adaptive architectural typology, such as found in older vernacular architectures, is often avoided because it is encapsulated within a socially negative label (not “progressive” enough). When looked at from the point of view of meme encapsulation and selection, many architectural phenomena that were difficult to explain become easier to understand.
Architectural theory
Architectural theory is the act of thinking, discussing, or most importantly writing about architecture. Architectural theory is taught in most architecture schools and is practiced by the world's leading architects. Some forms that architecture theory takes are the lecture or dialogue, the...
by Nikos Salingaros
Nikos Salingaros
Nikos A. Salingaros is a mathematician and polymath known for his work on urban theory, architectural theory, complexity theory, and design philosophy. He has been a close collaborator of the architect and computer software pioneer Christopher Alexander, with whom Salingaros shares a harsh...
, published in 2006 by Umbau-Verlag, Solingen, ISBN 3-937954-07-4. Glowing cover blurbs by Kenneth G. Masden II, Duncan G. Stroik
Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Catholic shrine located in La Crosse, Wisconsin. It is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Construction of the Shrine Church began on May 13, 2004, with a dedication on July 31, 2008. The grounds include a...
, Michael Blowhard, and Dean A. Dykstra. Preface by Prince Charles, and Foreword by Kenneth G. Masden II. This book is a re-working of previously published articles used to teach a senior architecture studio class. Four of the twelve chapters were originally written in collaboration, and the co-authors include Michael Mehaffy, Terry Mikiten, Debora Tejada, and Hing-Sing Yu.
Originality
This book joins a recent movement to explain socio-cultural phenomena by means of scientific models. Writers who have spearheaded this general effort by writing popular science with serious implications include Richard DawkinsRichard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
, Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Steven Arthur Pinker is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author...
, and Edward Osborne Wilson. Ever since Benoit Mandelbrot
Benoît Mandelbrot
Benoît B. Mandelbrot was a French American mathematician. Born in Poland, he moved to France with his family when he was a child...
mentioned that traditional architecture was more intrinsically fractal than 20th-Century buildings, people have been intrigued about the possibility of understanding architectural form in mathematical terms. The fractal nature of natural structures is evident in topography, and people have noticed that traditional architecture blends better with
the landscape.
Salingaros builds upon Christopher Alexander
Christopher Alexander
Christopher Wolfgang Alexander is a registered architect noted for his theories about design, and for more than 200 building projects in California, Japan, Mexico and around the world...
’s work, including Notes on the Synthesis of Form
Notes on the Synthesis of Form
Notes on the Synthesis of Form is a book by Christopher Alexander about the process of design.-Design:Alexander defines design as "the process of inventing things which display new physical order, organization, form, in response to function..."....
, A Pattern Language
A Pattern Language
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction is a 1977 book on architecture, urban design, and community livability. It was authored by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein of the Center for Environmental Structure of Berkeley, California, with writing credits also to...
, and The Nature of Order
The Nature of Order
The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe is a four-volume work by Christopher Alexander published in 2003-2004. In his earlier work, Alexander attempted to formulate the principles that lead to a good built environment as patterns, or recurring design...
. Salingaros has collaborated with Alexander for many years, and was one of the editors of "The Nature of Order
The Nature of Order
The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe is a four-volume work by Christopher Alexander published in 2003-2004. In his earlier work, Alexander attempted to formulate the principles that lead to a good built environment as patterns, or recurring design...
". He proposes mathematical laws of scaling, argues for an essential role for fractals in architecture, and describes rules for coherence among subdivisions that can help produce a more pleasing design. These are, in effect, original aesthetic rules coming from science rather than from any traditional artistic sources. Yet, like Alexander, Salingaros argues that this design theory corresponds more closely to what human beings have evolved to appreciate. The book introduces many innovative science-based ways of approaching design, and opposes abstract or formal methods based on imageability.
Influence
Prince Charles has written the Preface to this book, declaring Salingaros to be “an intriguing, perhaps historically important, new thinker”. Prince Charles’ detractors may be surprised to find that this book is not at all about Classical architectureClassical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
. Like Prince Charles, Salingaros is a great admirer of Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture....
, and the design theory he presents is claimed to be equally valid for Classical, Islamic, or any other vernacular or traditional architecture. Salingaros’ book presents a very different view of architecture and design from the teaching texts used for courses in architecture schools during the past several decades. He criticizes present-day architectural education for continuing to rely uncritically on models that he argues lead automatically to non-adaptivity and unsustainability. If one can get beyond the natural reaction to such criticisms, then designers will find much useful material for a new approach to architectural education.
Anthropologists K. Sorvig and J. Quillien commented: “The spirit of Jacob Bronowski
Jacob Bronowski
Jacob Bronowski was a Polish-Jewish British mathematician, biologist, historian of science, theatre author, poet and inventor...
permeates the work of Nikos Salingaros. "A Theory of Architecture" takes us directly to the heart of difficult questions. Salingaros explores ways to clarify and formalize our understanding of aesthetic forms in the built environment, using mathematics, thermodynamics, Darwinism, complexity theory and cognitive sciences. He postulates that cross-cultural universals derived from scaling rules in nature govern human appreciation of architecture.”
Architect and educator Ashraf Salama observed: “This book is of great value to architectural educators. It helps them correct some of the misconceptions inherited in architectural education … Knowledge is usually presented to students in a retrospective way where abstract and symbolic generalizations used to describe research results do not convey the feel of the behavior of the phenomena they describe; the late Donald Schon
Donald Schön
Donald Alan Schön was an influential thinker in developing the theory and practice of reflective professional learning in the twentieth century.- Education and career :...
emphasized this view in 1988 … Rather than giving students ready-made interpretations about the work of star architects, this book offers a deeper insight into the understanding of the true essence of architecture. This is a marvelous piece and I suggest it to architectural educators as an excellent textbook for theory courses introduced in both undergraduate and graduate programs of architecture worldwide.”
Individual chapters have been translated into several different languages.,,
Darwinian processes
Designs evolve in two ways: in the architect’s mind towards a final conception, and by variants of a building typology being built on the ground. A Darwinian process plays a significant role in both design and in the evolution (or persistence) of architectural typologies. Salingaros creates a framework where these mechanisms determine how designs evolve, and outlines a detailed model. His key concern is understanding the criteria for selection among competing variants: is selection driven by adaptation to human needs, or is it based upon matching to arbitrary images? What type of architecture results from each?Salingaros utilizes the work of Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
, especially the meme
Meme
A meme is "an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena...
model, to explain how architectural typologies and design elements are transmitted in society. An innovative application, but one that underlies a trenchant criticism of modernist
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
, post-modernist
Postmodern architecture
Postmodern architecture began as an international style the first examples of which are generally cited as being from the 1950s, but did not become a movement until the late 1970s and continues to influence present-day architecture...
, and deconstructivist
Deconstructivism
Deconstructivism is a development of postmodern architecture that began in the late 1980s. It is characterized by ideas of fragmentation, an interest in manipulating ideas of a structure's surface or skin, non-rectilinear shapes which serve to distort and dislocate some of the elements of...
architectural styles. Salingaros claims they are not really adaptive: he argues that they transmit in society in the manner of an advertising jingle
Jingle
A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...
, and not because of intrinsic worthwhile qualities. Despite supporting arguments that are explored in this book, this is a troubling suggestion.
Complexity
Salingaros uses a model of organized complexity to estimate the degree of “life” in a building, a quantity that measures the organization of visual information. His model is based on an analogy with the physics of thermodynamic processes, and extends earlier work by Herbert SimonHerbert Simon
Herbert Alexander Simon was an American political scientist, economist, sociologist, and psychologist, and professor—most notably at Carnegie Mellon University—whose research ranged across the fields of cognitive psychology, cognitive science, computer science, public administration, economics,...
and Warren Weaver
Warren Weaver
Warren Weaver was an American scientist, mathematician, and science administrator...
. The terminology arises from an analogy with biological forms. Salingaros distinguished between “organized” and “unorganized” complexity, going further to claim innate (biologically based) positive advantages of the former.
At least for those who like traditional buildings, the correlation between Salingaros’ “life” measure and the perceived degree of life in a building is high. Minimalist and deconstructivist
Deconstructivism
Deconstructivism is a development of postmodern architecture that began in the late 1980s. It is characterized by ideas of fragmentation, an interest in manipulating ideas of a structure's surface or skin, non-rectilinear shapes which serve to distort and dislocate some of the elements of...
buildings, on the other hand, rate very low, and this is a point of controversy with most architects. Christopher Alexander
Christopher Alexander
Christopher Wolfgang Alexander is a registered architect noted for his theories about design, and for more than 200 building projects in California, Japan, Mexico and around the world...
reproduces Salingaros’ results in Book 1 of “The Nature of Order
The Nature of Order
The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe is a four-volume work by Christopher Alexander published in 2003-2004. In his earlier work, Alexander attempted to formulate the principles that lead to a good built environment as patterns, or recurring design...
”, saying that: “It is telling that a simply constructed arithmetical function, based on the considerations of the nature of living structure, no matter how crudely, could get these kinds of results at all. It shows that, while the question itself may be a million times more subtle, there is something tangible, and ultimately measurable, in the degree of life the living structure has.”
Emergence and evidence-based design
Salingaros describes architecture (or at least architecture that he terms “adaptive”) as a characteristic phenomenon of EmergenceEmergence
In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence is central to the theories of integrative levels and of complex systems....
. Contemporary architectural thinking has recently been moving in this direction, and this book advances the field forward. It is generally acknowledged nowadays that Architectural theory
Architectural theory
Architectural theory is the act of thinking, discussing, or most importantly writing about architecture. Architectural theory is taught in most architecture schools and is practiced by the world's leading architects. Some forms that architecture theory takes are the lecture or dialogue, the...
has degenerated into a narrow point of view, neglecting architectural space and meaning. In proposing a broader discourse, contemporary theorists are turning once again to phenomenology
Phenomenology (architecture)
Phenomenology is both a philosophical design current in contemporary architecture and a specific field of academic research, based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties....
. Christopher Alexander
Christopher Alexander
Christopher Wolfgang Alexander is a registered architect noted for his theories about design, and for more than 200 building projects in California, Japan, Mexico and around the world...
and Salingaros have moved past the limited philosophical tools of phenomenology to derive evidence-based
Evidence-based design
Evidence-based design often shortened to EBD is a field of study that emphasizes the importance of using credible data in order to influence the design process. The approach has become popular in Healthcare Architecture in an effort to improve patient and staff well-being, patient healing...
results. Evidence-based design
Evidence-based design
Evidence-based design often shortened to EBD is a field of study that emphasizes the importance of using credible data in order to influence the design process. The approach has become popular in Healthcare Architecture in an effort to improve patient and staff well-being, patient healing...
is already being used in the innovative design of healing environments such as hospitals and health-care facilities. In parallel with intellectual advances in other fields driven by the revolution in scientific research at the end of the millennium, authors such as Salingaros, Alexander, and others seek to build theoretical knowledge in architecture from experimental findings.
These arguments are now being adopted and supplemented by a group of architects applying biophilia
Biophilia Hypothesis
The biophilia hypothesis suggests that there is an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems. Edward O. Wilson introduced and popularized the hypothesis in his book entitled Biophilia.- Love of living systems :...
, a term coined by Edward Osborne Wilson to describe an intrinsic, genetic predisposition of human beings towards structures found in other living objects such as animals and plants. The key researchers in biophilic design refer to Salingaros’ work, and to chapters of this book in particular.,
Pattern languages
Salingaros develops pattern languages originally introduced by Christopher AlexanderChristopher Alexander
Christopher Wolfgang Alexander is a registered architect noted for his theories about design, and for more than 200 building projects in California, Japan, Mexico and around the world...
and used in architecture as well as in software design. He earlier wrote an influential paper "The Structure of Pattern Languages", which described the combinatorics of patterns necessary to use them effectively. This applies both to software
Design pattern (computer science)
In software engineering, a design pattern is a general reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem within a given context in software design. A design pattern is not a finished design that can be transformed directly into code. It is a description or template for how to solve a problem that...
and to architectural and urban design
Urban design
Urban design concerns the arrangement, appearance and functionality of towns and cities, and in particular the shaping and uses of urban public space. It has traditionally been regarded as a disciplinary subset of urban planning, landscape architecture, or architecture and in more recent times has...
. In "A Theory of Architecture", Salingaros shows how a Pattern Language
Pattern language
A pattern language, a term coined by architect Christopher Alexander, is a structured method of describing good design practices within a field of expertise. Advocates of this design approach claim that ordinary people of ordinary intelligence can use it to successfully solve very large, complex...
and a Form Language combine into an Adaptive Design Method. The discussion, while fairly abstract, digs at the scientific foundations of design, having more in common with Evolvable hardware
Evolvable hardware
Evolvable hardware is a new field about the use of evolutionary algorithms to create specialized electronics without manual engineering. It brings together reconfigurable hardware, artificial intelligence, fault tolerance and autonomous systems...
than with the more philosophical discussions found in contemporary Architectural theory
Architectural theory
Architectural theory is the act of thinking, discussing, or most importantly writing about architecture. Architectural theory is taught in most architecture schools and is practiced by the world's leading architects. Some forms that architecture theory takes are the lecture or dialogue, the...
.
The fractal mind
This book discusses how our mindMind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
perceives and conceives architectural form, and postulates that fractal and other organizational mechanisms play a key role in perception. It then argues that human beings naturally prefer fractal, organized structures, based on how the mind works. Most modern evolutionary biologists accept the idea that evolution is dependent on the geometry of the natural environment, and thus must be consistent with biological structure and morphology. However, the view that selection has shaped the mind to prefer certain shapes and configurations is more controversial.
Geometrical fundamentalism
The phrase "geometrical fundamentalism" in this book was coined by Michael Mehaffy and Salingaros as a provocative way of expressing the dominance of abstract, monolithic forms of Modern architectureModern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
. Being easy to build, those simple typologies are passed on globally and now dominate world architecture. “One of the strengths of the International Style
International style (architecture)
The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...
was that the design solutions were indifferent to location, site, and climate”. Nevertheless, by not allowing architectural form the freedom to adapt to a particular set of local circumstances, the built environment has tended further and further away from Sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
.
Meme encapsulation
The book also coins the term “encapsulation” to describe an architectural memeMeme
A meme is "an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena...
bundled inside a social meme
Meme
A meme is "an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena...
. The model suggests that such memetic replication models human culture, in which building and urban typologies proliferate for reasons other than their utility. The contention is that typologies that get passed on are the ones whose encapsulation is more appealing. Salingaros and Terry Mikiten propose that encapsulation helps an architectural meme to survive and reproduce. In particular, phenomena such as (possibly impractical) architectural fashions, where clients enable certain memes that do not promote mental health and feelings of wellbeing to reproduce, can be explained as encapsulations helping their enclosed memes to replicate. The converse is also true: an adaptive architectural typology, such as found in older vernacular architectures, is often avoided because it is encapsulated within a socially negative label (not “progressive” enough). When looked at from the point of view of meme encapsulation and selection, many architectural phenomena that were difficult to explain become easier to understand.