You might think these very modern houses in Holland would spoil the looks of the quaint old Dutch brick houses with their high，steep roofs.But the new-style housesare generally built in groups.One little functional house in a whole street of old Dutch houses would look out of place.But when all the new houses are grouped together the effect is pleasant.They look tidy and shipshape with their smooth concrete and glass sides.
In America，dwellings have not generally been built in this style as much as in Europe.The United States has，however，been building more and more factories and warehouses and stores and office buildings in functional styles，and you can see examples in most of our big cities.They are worth keeping your eyes open for，I can tell you，because，as you grow up，such buildings will probably become more and more important.Most of these buildings are air-conditioned so that the windows are never opened and yet the air inside is always the right temperature and much cleaner than the air outside.
Of course you won’t find much decoration on a functional factory.Such a building has smooth clean-cut lines and a good shape to make it attractive.The later sky-scrapers are the buildings to look at for modern decoration.So also are many of the new public buildings such as libraries and railroad stations.The State Capitol of Nebraska，planned by the famous American architect Bertram，is one of the best-liked new-style buildings.It is entirely unlike buildings of the past and yet no one could call it freakish.In fact，it is almost universally admired.
A building should be the right building for the place where it stands.A building may be very beautiful and still not be suitable for a certain place.A Greek temple would look out of place among sky-scrapers.A modern glass and steel building would look wrong at a university where all the other buildings were in Gothic style.
A building also should be designed for its time in history.Each important period in the history of the world has had its own style of buildings quite different from the buildings that came earlier.Gothic style buildings are still being built，but the important buildings of our time will not be Gothic，nor Romanesque，nor Greek in style.They will have their own style，a new style unlike styles of earlier periods.
And so when you look at a building，especially a new building，you might ask a question or two.Does that building belong to the time when it was built？Is it the right design for the place where it is？You might ask the building these questions.The building won’t answer you in words，of course，but it will give you the answer if you look carefully.Maybe sometime in the future buildings will actually answer your questions in words.It isn’t too hard to imagine a talking building.You press a button on the wall and from an electric speaker in the building might come a voice saying，“I am a building made of steel，glass，and plastics.My architect was John Jones.I was erected in 1992.I don’t want to boast but I think I’m just the right building for this location.I hope you think so too.”
No.88-1UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS
GENERAL VIEW SHOWING THE SECRETARIAT BUILDING AND THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY BUILDING UNDER CONSTRUCTION（联合国总部大楼、联合国秘书处大楼以及建设中的联合国大会主楼一览）Another new idea in architecture is to build houses the way automobiles are built，in a factory.They could be of steel and glass and turned out by the hundreds，all ready to be fastened together and set up to live in.Then houses could be bought for much less money than it takes to-day to buy a house，and probably the houses would be very convenient ones to live in.Perhaps at first they would not be really pretty houses，but that could be remedied as the factories learned to make them better.I hope they won’t be painted blue.
Another new idea in architecture is the building of comfortable，clean，healthful houses to take the place of the terrible tenements in the slums that all cities have.Such houses must be well and carefully planned and must have play-grounds and gardens and open spaces and sunlight.And of course they must be cheap enough to rent so that poor people can live in them.In a good many countries the governments have helped to build such houses for workmen and their families.Often they are arranged in what are called garden cities.
These garden cities are very thoughtfully laid out，so that many families can live in them without being crowded.Each little garden city is complete.It has its own storesand schools and churches.Generally the garden cities are on the outskirts of the big cities.
We have begun to get rid of slums in the United States，but there is still a great deal to do.This is another idea in architecture that you can watch grow as you grow.Some day you yourself perhaps will be helping to get rid of the tenements in the slums and will be building good houses to take the place of bad ones.
【中文阅读】
你见过蓝房子吗？我的意思是说整个房屋都是蓝色的——蓝屋顶、蓝墙壁、蓝烟囱。我从没见过这样的房子，但我想它看起来一定很另类。
那你见过钢筋玻璃房吗？这种房子乍一看很奇怪，但它跟蓝房子那种另类不同。房子刷成蓝色理由并不充分；但钢筋玻璃房为何要用钢筋玻璃则有充分的理由。你一旦住习惯了就会非常喜欢它，就会知道它比普通房子住起来更健康。但我实在看不出来住蓝房子有什么好处，不管你多么适应。
蓝房子和钢筋玻璃房没有原型。而大部分建筑风格都有原型，甚至可以追溯很久。譬如：
古罗马建筑始于古希腊罗马式风格始于古罗马哥特式建筑始于罗马式所以大部分新样式都是从过去的老样式发展来的。在过去被认为是非常好看的风格，今天也被大部分建筑所采用了。
这种古为今用看起来并无不妥，只要现代建筑的用途与古代建筑的用途一致即可。只是现代许多建筑有许多全新的用途，这是古代建筑师根本想不到的。所以在有些建筑师看来，这些建筑应该摆脱以往建筑的使用方式，而完全按建筑本身情况决定。为什么要将发电厂房造成哥特式呢？而发电厂房与昔日哥特式建筑兴盛时期的房屋没有一点关系。既然罗马人从没听说过加油站，那为什么要用古罗马柱式来建加油站呢？
所以很多建筑师都发现，最好还是根据建筑的实际用途来进行设计。他们认为建筑风格要体现建筑的用途，而不是被过去的建筑形式所掩盖。这种非常现代的建筑风格有时被称作“实用型”，因为它表现了建筑的用途和功能。
你会完全明白我在叙述摩天大厦发展史的时候所表达的意思。早期的摩天大厦通常都建有文艺复兴式飞檐。通常在正门处用古希腊或古罗马柱式进行装饰。后来又认为哥特式风格最适合，因为哥特式大教堂和摩天大厦都强调垂直性，譬如纽约城的伍尔沃思大楼。但后来越来越多的摩天大厦似乎都有了自己的风格，在钢筋铁骨的构架上覆盖着一层保护材料。