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In this first installment of a two-part episode, FA editors Michael Nicholas, Kevin Rogan and Joshua McWhirter discuss the weird world of traditional architecture revivalism, or ‘trad architecture’ for short. Starting with a critique of pop philosopher Alain de Botton’s recent article ‘Why is the Modern World so Ugly?’, the three editors examine the surface-level aesthetic fixations and flattened historical perceptions of the trad architecture movement — so often a cipher for the exaltation of ‘Western’ culture, even as it makes claims to an apolitical stance.