The Evolutionary Beauty of Buildings

Why we love classical architecture

The giant Corinthian columns of the National Building Museum, Washington, D.C. (1887)

Last winter I had the pleasure of meeting up with one of Europe’s foremost advocates for classical architecture — Sweden’s very own Michael Diamant.

Michael works at the heart of the classical revival in Europe, frequently meeting with politicians to discuss policy, the value of beauty, and how to stop modernist atrocities from being built. By his calculations, he and his team have stopped over 200 architectural eyesores from being constructed in Stockholm alone.

He came to visit me in Italy a few months back, and there we got to discuss all things classical architecture. I then traveled to Stockholm to see him over the summer, and we’ve since become good friends — I truly can’t commend him and his work enough.

Today, we look at why certain buildings make you stop and stare, while others make you want to look away. As you’ll see, the answer lies deep in our evolutionary past. I pull the main points from my video interview with Michael (linked at the end of this email) to highlight why humans are drawn to the beauty of classical designs.

Michael’s observations aren’t just aesthetic musings — they’re grounded in the evolutionary needs that shaped our ancestors. So here is the biological reality behind why beauty speaks to us…