This is a must-read book if you are in the building & design business

I am not sure I understood a lot of what I read but it sure was great!

We can't get rid of all those god-awful box stores, but we can train our eye to better appreciate what makes a structure beautiful and why that's important. You don't have to be an architect to read this book. It's written simply and intelligently, with many photos and illustrations as references.

Chapter 6 is the most helpful. "No amount of zoning, increased or decreased density, structural expression or concealment, energy efficiency, traffic control, vistas, open space, regulation of style-height-material-use will bring back a sense of place. Our towns make us feel lost and insecure, but the enduring sense of place does not come from friendly circulation patterns, festive signage, or sweet memories. It comes from the gut recognition a form and pattern. If you want to feel you are in a place,go to the Yucatán what you Chichen Itza, which hasn't been occupied for thousand years. Only one memory is awake and in such a place the memory of who we are."