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Architectural employment decreased 24% between 1989 and 1994, and it may be that the arrogance that accompanied Modernism and the disappointment with Postmodernism are at least partially responsible. There is hope, however, as there is a growing emphasis on community and on beauty and design.

Architectural writing, which has been described as the light that reveals the beauty of architecture, is more often treated as a marginal appendage. Critics who write on architecture stress the beauty of a construction. Their definition of a beautiful building is one which needs nothing added to or subtracted from it. Ornamentation is seen as contrived and irrelevant in this context. The paradox is that architectural writing is itself ornamentation.

'Playful' architecture is concerned primarily with style. 'Ethical' architecture is concerned primarily social purpose. These approaches are often considered antithetical, but architecture needs both perspectives.

Suburbs, as the embodiment of the decentralized city, have become the true centers of modern civilization. Many designers, who still hold the old view of suburbs as satellite communities, have neglected suburbia.

Architecture is critically reviewed through its aesthetics. It is distinguished from other arts in utility, function, quality, technique, character and its multiplicity in aims.

An exhibition of European visual postwar art, from 1945-1965, reveals a wide and complex variety of works from hundreds of artists. The show was under the direction of Thomas Messer, with curators for the individual sections, such as painting, sculpture, photography, architecture and design.