On the subject of architecture and design, there is perhaps no quote more widely recognized than Mies Van der Rohe's mantra, "Less is More." Since the coining of this phrase, other architects have manufactured similar phrases as a way of commenting on and/or critiquing Van der Rohe's minimalist spatial design ideology. For instance, the maximalist counter-mantra, "More is More," or architect Robert Ventura's "Less is a Bore," or architect Bjarke Ingels' phrase, "Yes is More," coined in his architectural comic book.
I propose an additional alternative to Van der Rohe's mantra that I believe more accurately reflects the reality of modern architecture: "Enough is Enough."
Most modern architects and designers can attest that there's more nuance in architectural design than Mies assumes in his quote. His mantra struggles to account for many of the problems that the current built-environment poses to architects and designers. For instance, the modern urban fabric of the United States leaves much to be desired by residents today, what with the rise of the age of the strip mall, the "stroad" (i.e. Street/road; a type of thoroughfare that poorly and dangerously combines the functions of both streets and roads), the non-descript glass skyscraper, and so on... The banality of the built-environment aside, there's also important matters such as climate change, the international housing shortage, hostile architecture, gentrification, public safety, socioeconomic equity, etc. that modern architects and designers must be aware of in their work.
All things considered, architects and designers shouldn't design according to Van der Rohe's mantra, because it is up to each designer to know when "enough is enough" on any given project. It is not "enough" to base architecture and design solely on the mantra, "Less is More." As an aspiring architect and urban planner, I hope to design with an intimate understanding of the needs of the client, the project, the site, the environment, and the greater urban fabric, regardless of whether the design calls for "less" or "more."
