“Architecture is about power. The powerful build because that is what the powerful do.” Sudjic argues that power, dictates architecture around the world. He poses a provocative argument. At first glance, I found myself agreeing with everything he had to say. Sudjic is right about the things he says, but fails to acknowledge architecture as a whole. The argument he constructs deals exclusively with the architecture that we stop to stare it, not the kind that we readily ignore. I concluded that Sudjic writes about architecture like a tourist visiting New York for the first time; someone enchanted by the grandiose nature of buildings lining Fifth Avenue, but failing to believe that regular two story brick homes exist a train ride away.

Sudjic uses countless examples of leaders from different times periods and corners of the world to prove the point that architecture is dominated by the people who have the money to control it. The power to give life to architecture doesn’t just stop at hiring people to construct it; these people make sure that the figures being built reflect the power they possess. Sudjic claims that these leaders want to glorify themselves through architecture. They want to intimidate opponents and remind their people who is in charge. Saddam Hussein had a mosque constructed with four minarets, one of which was 37 meters high, and 28 water jets in the pool. These details were meant to spell out his birthday: April 28^th, 1937. While Hussein may be an extreme example of the meaning that wealth can project via architecture, I think it would be almost foolish to deny that money doesn’t have the power to build such infrastructure. What Sudjic fails to acknowledge in his argument however, is that elaborate infrastructure isn’t the only kind of infrastructure that exists.

While Hussein was in power, the people he ruled weren’t living with him in his gold laden mansions. Most people were living in “regular” homes. In fact, most people in the world don’t have the opportunity to live in luxurious homes. Sudjic doesn’t explain what kind of meaning is conveyed in these mundane homes. What kind of power is conveyed in the architecture of a local bodega? Wealthy people probably can, but don’t try to control every kind of architecture that exists. Of course there will always be a few, or maybe many staple structures that signify their importance but those structures won’t overwhelm the majority. Architects build for the community, not exclusively for the rich.