A house by Indian architects that I particularly liked. They did a wonderful job of combining modern architecture with pleasing patterns! Two years ago I wrote a post about an ethnic trend that seemed to be emerging. This house is a perfect illustration of it.

So much vernacular, human-scaled design has been lost and replaced by a uniform international approach, in which any pattern or pleasing flourish is treated as a crime against the idea of rationality. And of course this approach dismissed "old," "naïve" art as a relic, and ethnic design seemed to threaten the globalist project.

I'm all for finding a balance. You don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Corbusier is great, but for all his radicalism he lacks softness. A house isn't only a machine for living—it's also a place of aesthetic experience. A house should be pleasant for a child and an elderly woman, not just the man in the suit. A home should remind us who we are, where we come from, and where we're going.

It's a special feeling to be inside well-made "historic" buildings. When you step out of the context of decades, in which my rationalist Soviet-era house was built, and into the context of centuries, it's a different scale, a different perspective.

Ethnic style speaks to me on an even broader level—the level of millennia of human history. That's why it's so fascinating to be in Indonesian villages. Traditional arts and crafts are still alive there, even as people build modern homes to please tourists. This blend gives rise to surprisingly comfortable and beautiful spaces.

Native patterns, carvings, and weaving make for such lovely details.

Here are some details in the architectural review of this house: archi.capital/howto/144

Which style of home is timidly gaining momentum and poised to unfold in the future? What's interesting is the mega-trend that stirs whole decades, not the seasonal furniture sales.

I believe we're moving toward "big ethnic" — a style that points to the vernacular and, in an age of globalization, to the natural.

Most would agree that ethnic is more of a humble, rustic style: country houses. For thousands of years, architecture has reflected the trappings of power. Even the "modern" styles at the turn of the century glorified the power of technology.

But architecture follows society. Today we teach children to value one another — not as subjects of their king and country, not as an appendage to a shovel or a computer, but as citizens of the Earth. It's becoming embarrassing to own a personal palace, even if you're rich, and no longer shameful to live modestly and help those in need.

Earthlings will resettle Mars; architects will rethink the past, digging beyond crusades and the redrawing of empires to reach our common roots.

This is the new fashion — mixing the look of Mediterranean cottages into Western styles. And, of course, the flourishing of eco-architecture, which nonetheless lacks a human flavor.