The legitimacy of modern architecture

Roger Scruton's The Classical Vernacular: Architectural Principles in an Age of Nihilism is a collection of essays that together make up a forceful and elaborate attack on modern architecture. The collection is not intended as a manifesto for a new movement that is supposed to succeed, "cross out," or "reinscribe” modern architecture. Although Scruton mainly refers to the founding fathers of modern architecture (Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe) there is no reason to think that he is more appreciative of later trends. After all, as an alternative to modern architecture, Scruton does not propose postmodern or neomodern architecture, but a vernacular architecture, as realized in Georgian London. (The concept of a vernacular architecture will be elucidated in duecourse.)