In the past, reason made it possible to build. Only that which was grounded on reason could be built, and perhaps it is no exaggeration to say that the history of architecture has been written from the springboard of reason. Things have changed, however, and nowadays one can build without recourse to reason. In construction, it is dispensable. One might say that ‘buildability’ now frees the built domain, and therefore buildings, from the obligation to have the rational attributes that architecture had in the past. Today’s ‘buildability’ – the notion that anything can be constructed – makes it superfluous to question the rationality of something built, and unnecessary to associate ‘buildable’ with ‘reasonable.’ Our being so accustomed to the idea that the shape of built things (and we have to include buildings here) can be explained in rational terms – whether these are set by a strict and judicious handling of materials, by the functions and purposes that justify them, or by the use of languages whose continuity over time gave them meaning – makes the act of dispensing with the rationality of yore ring loud and clear in our current observations not only of ‘anonymous and commercial architecture,’ but even of a good share of ‘advanced architecture.’..[+][+]