Response to "The Muses Are Not Amused"

Silvetti begins his essay by stating that architectural form is the result of every form of energy that exists within a place. Cultural, social, economic, ideological, technical, methodological... etc.

Later in his essay, describing programism, thematization, and blob architecture, Silvetti claims that these methods of "form finding" leave the architect's opinion out of the equation. In programism, for instance, Silvetti claims that by organizing vast amounts of programmatic data, one is left with an organizational strategy that almost directly transfers to architecture. In thematization, Silvetti's criticism is that architects simply copy older trends and themes to recreate an idyllic setting from the past or the imagination, requiring not only a suspension of belief but also amnesia as a necessary condition in order to submit to the theme. Silvetti continues on to criticize blob architecture as creating forms simply because we can, without any guiding principles. He goes on to say that with the advent of digital fabrication techniques, "Freedom from semantics, history, and culture was perhaps made possible for the first time in civilization." Lastly, Silvetti criticizes literalism as the "most weakening formal development of the last twenty years..."

As a solution, Silvetti looks to the Baroque movement. He sees similarities in that the Baroque style was a amalgamation of different art forms, a metaphor for present times. However, he sees the Baroque style as having a sense of theatricality, a sense of performance which is lacking in todays world.