My friend Lara posted this quote on her Facebook wall:

“Architecture should have the confidence and the kindness to be a little boring.” – Alain de Botton

I think it’s a poetic way to point out that if buildings are to work together to make up a successful city block, or a whole city, they need to defer to each other, to the pedestrian, and to the street.

A bunch of boring buildings that work well together make a much better city block than a bunch of buildings that are all screaming out to be noticed…