CHAPTER
8
ARCHITECTURE AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT V V e spend most of our time in or around buildings, but people don't usually think of them as a means to understanding the past. The truth is, however, human-built structures can tell us much about history—although in a different language than books. It is possible to wander through any Summit County town and get a sense of why it was created, how it evolved, who lives there, and what its religious, social, and cultural characteristics are. If we take a close look at the buildings, we can determine when the town was founded, when it was growing quickly or not growing at all, and how the residents made their livings. When we come to understand why each structure was built—in response to the real needs of real people—we can see how those people used ingenuity, craftsmanship, design, and technology to fill those needs and create their society. And we can see that each element in a structure communicates something about its creators.
Mormon Towns: Designing the Real with an Eye to the Ideal No matter where they are, how old they are, or how big they are, 164
