Is a love of architecture out of place today?

I have said for many years that I was born at least 30-50 or more years too late. I have always loved old sports cars. If I had been an adult when the Porsche 911 was first introduced, I am sure I would have purchased one straight away! And I would have loved to have been a young adult in the late 40s, 50s  or early 60s when there was so much going on in the architectural and design world. I love so many products from that era, cars, modern furnishings and modern buildings.

I love modern architecture, residential and commercial. That was not always the case. I think as I became more involved with architecture, my tastes matured and I was able to appreciate modern design in ways that I had not been able to earlier in my life. In some ways, I feel that my appreciation of modern architecture grew in part from a distaste for the boring and repetitive home designs that you see everywhere. Although I have lived in conventional style homes for much of my life, I have no desire to do so again.

While I can appreciate the simplicity of a Cape Code home, I can't say I have any desire to live in one. Instead, I built the home of my dreams in the country. Modern lines, lots of glass, every space well thought out. It took me many months to finalize the design. During that time I had a couple of epiphanies, which in all modesty, I have to say are pretty brilliant. I really can't say that I have ever seen a home design quite like it. My wife and I love the design and the flow of the home. I designed it for us to be able to live comfortably in while we have young children as well as for when they have moved on with their own lives. Several times I have thought about how I might have done something different that would have improved the design, but as of yet I have not come up with any changes that would have improved the design considering the location and our lifestyle. I have had many, many people complement me on our home, but I think maybe some of the comments I have enjoyed the most have been when I have overheard teen age friends of my children remark "You live in the coolest house!"

So from all of this comes my question, Is a love of architecture out of place today? Very few of my friends and acquaintances enjoy architecture to any extent. Nor do they care about the design aspects all that much that I can tell. They live in the suburbs in nice conventional homes. But if you took the numbers off the sides of their houses, I question if they could find their way home.

I was recently describing a road trip we took to the east coast to some friends recently. I told them that our very first stop was Fallingwater. They had never heard of it. Most people tell me that they have never heard of FLLWs masterpiece. When I show them a picture, some people recall seeing something of it before, but most do not. I took my children to see Fallingwater because I wanted them to experience truly great residential architecture.

I guess maybe my question is: With all the information we deal with today from entertainment, activities and online, outside of a very small percentage of people, is there really much interest in architecture by the general population?

BTW, I plan to very soon purchase that Porsche 911 that I have desired for over 30 years! I can barely wait!