Twilight of architecture

. Architecture is a subject indicator of the adaptation of any organized system to the circumstances of the environment, even if it transforms this environment itself. Adaptation to the environment was the main goal of man in the early stages of civilization. Subsequently, the roles have changed. Society is now actively attacking and changing nature, solving two main tasks - creating a comfortable living environment and ensuring its social status by means of composition and artistic expression. The decoupling of these tasks led to the ramification of the work on the environment into trivial and expositional architecture; this is especially noticeable today. In search of the expressiveness of the image, artistic and tectonic sources have already been exhausted, and architecture is now plot-immanent to itself, ignoring the usual external stimuli of creative ideas. The first violation of traditions made the freedom of form-making legitimate, opened the doors to teratogenesis (implantation of ugliness), and architecture finally turned into an object of plastic experiments that frighten the townspeople with strange structures of mysterious functional purpose. This, of course, is about an expositional architecture, the expressiveness of which sometimes reaches a state that is far from common sense, insulting the existing buildings with a super-scale and absurdity of forms. The architects played too much, not suspecting that the figurative eccentricity of their works testifies not to the triumph of a new aesthetics, but to the twilight of the general culture revealed by architecture.


Introduction
As a materialized reality of civilization, architecture preserves the stages of its evolution to the extent of the strength inherent in structures, which, establishing the sequence of the morphogenesis of architectural events in human history, fix its extended beginning and predict a rapid ending.
The final is preceded by a preparatory phase of general degeneration of all areas of being, the causes of which are equally pre-established by the Universe as the natural boundaries of the life cycle of any organized system of an inert or organic world, and by the self-destructive behavior of society -in the individual and collective dimensions [1]. The latter is also caused by the inexorable and inevitable progress of technical civilization, which caused the paradoxes of human degradation. This, in fact, is the twilight phase that has come today.
The objective circumstances of approaching the end of human history include planetary ones: endogenous transformations of the lithosphere, independent of human activity (there are also many of them), volcanic activity, earthquakes, pole shifts, cyclical periods of climate warming and flooding of ocean coasts, as well as events in the nearest space (the life of the Sun, space radiation, asteroids).
The subjective reasons for the approaching end of the human race, reflected in the dynamics of the objective world of people, including architecture, are very numerous.
Human civilization has taken the path of increasing technical progress. This turned out to be inevitable and fatal -the desire to achieve maximum comfort and a predisposition to laziness (the philosophy of mini-max) led to great and frightening achievements of science and technology, as well as to the demobilization of human organic capabilities, inhibition of the extrasensory potentials of the brain, de-adaptation to the environment, which opened access to various diseases, weakening of immunity and distortion of the genetic code, which is confirmed by modern studies [2,3,4].
The achieved opportunities to satisfy mental and organic needs have intensified the tendencies of social demoralization, epidemics of previously unknown diseases, mental degradation, crime, and the development of unnatural social vices.
There are signs of the collapse of the world community, aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic, unbridled ambitions on the part of the mythical "golden billion", financial pressure, and mutual military threats.
And all this against the backdrop of impressive discoveries in science, advances in technology, construction industry, biological research of heredity, medical practice of transforming and improving the human body, the development of intelligence and the emergence of indigo children with amazing mental abilities.
But paradoxically, progress also contributes to the identification of social groups parasitizing the economy, demoralized in mental and physiological senses, incapable of learning, easily falling into the psychosis of an uncontrollable (?) crowd, with developed instincts of destruction and suicide.
The man is tired of himself. As a means of psychological safety valve, the media launch shock information on the release of accumulated aggression with a demonstration of murders, cruelties, fantastic horror films. For the same purposes, clubs of football fans are created, destroying each other during matches. And after all, stadiums have existed for the same neutralization of social tension since the days of ancient Rome.
At the same time, those who wish can observe the virtual world of paradise life with beautiful houses entwined with greenery and flowers, reflected in transparent lakes (Fig. 1).
These contrasting landscapes obscure in the public consciousness the true visual image of the world -the living space (city) and the objects that fill it, to which attention is paid only mnemonically, subconsciously. Except when it comes to changes in buildings or demonstration of attractions.
In the initial striving for unification and the substantive organization of the settlement space, manifested as a phenomenon of socialization, a person can claim co-authorship in the idea of creating a refuge and the foundation of a settlement, but the main creator of his existence is evolution, which, if the created world is destroyed, can recreate it almost in its previous forms (of course, under unchanged premises), having made a mistake only in the nuances of forms, which is characteristic of the development of any dynamic system. And architecture is such a self-adjusting system. The emotional expressiveness of tectonics is enhanced by the "superstructure", the inclusion of elements of artistic meaning in the basic structure, which reveal the social originality of the structure, its aesthetic merits, firstly by borrowing images of nature, the phenomena of which cause meaningful mental experiences with power, rhythm, symmetry, color, silhouette... In the modern world, relaxing eudemonia coexists with harsh apocalyptic pictures of the end of the world (Fig. 2). In the future, the "superstructure" is transformed into the main component of architecture, by which its visual assessment is determined, and the links accumulated by the experiment to the origins of the artistic effect are preserved forever.
Starting from elementary mimesis, imitation of attractive natural forms, architects turn their attention to a person, whose proportions are taken into account in the ergonomics of space. Later, metamorphoses of technological processing of forms, their abstraction, a new, more in-depth understanding of natural forms -bionics -and the release from external dependence by the transition to autogenic architecture, where immanent considerations, sometimes focused on the extraction of a compositional-artistic effect with associative allusions to industrial, zoomorphic, landscape motives, become formative.
The distraction from the object source of the image frees the architect from the traditional obligations of figurative staticity and launches the mechanism of free form creation, manifested in risky atectonic characteristic, dynamism, deconstructivism, outright obscurantism in relation to cultural heritage and, finally, teratogenesis -a provocative experiment of violence against traditional aesthetic norms (Fig. 3). The process of gradual generation of architectural forms from tectonic expediency and its artistic interpretation as a fact of fatigue from conservative images and the desire to bring in motives of freshness, surprise, originality ends with symbolic extremism, avant-garde, which hides the motives and actions of destruction, deformation.
The pulsating nature of this morphogenesis is well reflected by the cycles of transformations characteristic of each historically determined "grand" style.
The exponential dynamics of the change of styles is also revealed, with an accelerated transition from the phase of tectonic ascent to the phase of decorative decadence.
On the scale of human civilization, from antiquity to the present day, an ascending line of the integral period of birth, maturity, decline of culture is formed, which culminated in the forms of art, architecture, technology, social structures, which have exhausted their potential for the development of the genetic code, and stopped at a point of crisis, called in physics the point of singularity (Fig. 4), [5], denoting the moment of the catastrophe of the obsolete system and the beginning of the search for new spheres of post-singular existence.
Historically, our civilization turned out to be at this point scheduled, according to ancient Indian numerologists, for the end of the Kali Yuga era [6].

Research methodology
Research methodology has developed as a result of the accumulation of a critical mass of ideas, hypotheses, prognostic visions and projections of past experience and modern prerequisites for the future, the generalization and summary analysis of which indicate the limitation of the life cycle of the human race [7 -10].
Differences are only in the depth and details of scientific, mythical and esoteric ideas about the beginning and the end of the world.
The mental processing of such representations is synchronous with the development of human consciousness and assumptions about the essence of the subject.
The images of ancient myths and ancient Indian Vedas were transferred to the controversial texts of the Bible and Kabbalah, in their own way outlining the themes of the birth of man and the visitation of God for the sins, and subsequently interpreted from the point of view of the science of the origin of life on Earth [11], threats to its existence.
Expansion of knowledge about the life cycles of other, living and inert systems strengthened the understanding of the need of alternation of generation as a guarantee of the existence of the race as a whole, which, however, did not reduce the excitement of searching for the elixir of immortality or, at least, the possibilities of resurrection. Not only religion, but also secular science is still based on this paradox of consciousness. Churches, mosques, synagogues, Buddhist shrines, in whose architectural images archaic forms are preserved, exist and flourish, creating the illusion of piety against the background of general demoralization of society. The Church today remains the only social institution concerned with the spiritual purity of the people. Will this mission be successful?
The world exists on such paradoxes in a state of unstable equilibrium. The tendencies to overcome this instability, as shown by statistics and field observations, have a negative forecast. The world has become like a disturbed anthill, and its architecture -like the defiant beauty of a dying organism.

Research results
It is obvious that human attempts to become the "king of the hill" on the planet have failed, and everything that happens, inevitably directed to the point of singularity, is the result of the solidarity of society and nature, the epicenter of which is a person who perceives himself as a creature endowed with consciousness and capable of assessing his past, present and foreseeing the future without prejudice about his power.
As a member of society, a person was unable to adequately build his life as it is imagined in ideal visions. (This error is common to city planners, too). He simply interferes with himself, pouring his individual ambitions into systemic constructions that generalize the "collective unconscious" into city plans, skyscraper silhouettes, ideas of enrichment, intrigue, and wars.
Nowadays, a high intellect of mental development is aimed at the shameful goals of establishing the dominance of finance capital (how right was Marx!) by means of economic blackmail, shameless lies of political performances. Our descendants will shudder with disgust, imagining what low ideas and motives governed the life of society before its inevitable death. This century will leave a memory of itself with extravagant architectural fictions, cities turned into tight labyrinths of skyscrapers, destroyed nature.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that in recent years, there have been many changes replicated by the press, which is also prone to exaggeration; their dynamics is growing.
We are talking about changes in the person himself, his organics and consciousness, the degree of his adaptation to the environment, the reliability of the genetic code, as well as changes in the external environment, partly associated with human activities, especially in places of increased population density.
For example, poisonous smog is present not throughout the whole territory of China, but only in densely populated cities, especially in hollows closed from the wind.
The costs of the civilization progress, the so-called social diseases, are also concentrated in large cities, which pose an environment of criminal danger.
In addition, timely urban planning regulation, including sanitary actions, traffic management, repair, reconstruction and restoration of dilapidated buildings, landscaping of squares and parks, getting rid of unapproved construction in the city, reorganization of yards, was renounced in favor of financing dubious measures. Nevertheless, cities are being improved quite successfully even without the participation of architects.
Without professional supervision, verticals of pseudo-skyscrapers that are not inhabited by anyone arise in the current development.
The functions of architecture as a means of organizing the habitable space, realized in the recent past by the creation of ensembles, have been forgotten, and the existing ensembles have been desecrated by the willful development of commercial architecture objects. The reasons are clear: there must be a spacious, observable area in front of the ensemble; it is difficult to resist the temptation to build something there. All the squares near railway stations in Moscow fell victim to the predatory town planning.
The very structure of the city changes depending on social requirements. Isolated elite quarters are being formed, where strangers are not allowed; ethnic communities of migrants are coagulated in urban areas that they "privatized". In Russia, it has not yet come to the formation of a ghetto, but there is a process of active self-segregation of the population, whose employment does not have definite professional outlines. The city as a focus of mutual attraction and long-term habitation of people who were once employed in close spheres of employment, becomes a place of transit stay for people who are alien to the atmosphere of spiritual co-citizenship.
The uncontrolled growth of the population of the cities, which have become a magnet for the residents of the surrounding settlements, creates a kind of vacuum of cultural development around the metropolises -at the entrance to Moscow, squalid villages are clustered around the railways.
Count Potemkin should clearly be here! Disrespect for the land as an object of care, respect and improvement, which is difficult to overcome in Russia, gives rise to the resulting negative qualities of land use in the city: pollution, vandalism of immigrants, congestion of space with human and automobile flows, deadly ecology, social vices, lack of habit to take care of grass lawns...
As a result, some institutions are equipped with atriums that protect office interiors from outdoor atmospheric hazards. Electric buses are being introduced in parallel.
Whenever possible, spacious closed support-free spaces of recreational areas are formed. Psychological tension from the abundance of people on the streets makes wealthy citizens who have not yet moved to green suburbs to arrange a family communal zone in their city apartments, developing the living room space.
The facades of the houses of the main streets, which adorned the city in the 20th century as objects erected and finished with human hands, using the "wet" construction technology, are now covered with giant billboards. And the facades of new shopping centers were originally intended to be a background for displaying advertising.
Russia has not yet caught up with the Western countries in the abundance and aggression of advertising. This is a matter for the near future, if it comes.
But new cities are no longer being built. With favorable economic prospects, those existing ones expand "inward", until hypertrophy is reached, forming a continuous territory of agglomeration, which develops into a chain of conurbations. There are also empty cities, for example, Detroit.
Urban architecture, replenished and renewed like any growing organism, even at the stage of its extinction, demonstrates by the growth of population and cars not prosperity, but symptoms of self-suppression.
So, isn't anything positive happening in modern architecture, at least to compensate for the events that threaten the life of the city? Probably there is, but it requires energetic and costly support, and the destruction develops on its own, without effort.
Cities and highways connecting them form a continuous network of communication of the developed territories, cutting through the natural habitat of the still preserved wild animals, blocking their migration routes.
Creative ideas for transforming the planet, creating gigantic techno-natural complexes do not take into account consequences. The measure of a person's entrepreneurial spirit is not covered by the measure of responsibility and, ruining the planet, people prepare the prerequisites for their own destruction. This is all known! Who will have chances of survival, however illusory?
The media circulates the myth of the "golden billion" -people of the richest clans who, in the event of a planetary catastrophe (most likely, by the fault of the people themselves), will be able to escape in underground cities prepared for long-term habitation.
Since the Earth's resources are already almost exhausted, especially on a small piece of the European territory of the Eurasian continent with the longest history of civilization, it is necessary to reduce the rest of the planet's population to a minimum -activating and provoking social diseases, epidemics, hunger, wars, accelerated extinction.
The expectation is that depopulation will be most effective on the territory of Russia, which, after such a purge, will become an excellent place for resettlement from impoverished and socially insane Western Europe and, of course, from the USA. The impatience is so great that it doesn't even hide.
Is it not for this that the centers of mutual destruction of the peoples of the former Soviet Union are supported, and the unification of the Slavic peoples of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine is hindered by all means? [12].
The malignancy of modern urban culture is evidenced by a large number of entertainment establishments, gambling clubs, open and secret ones, and the absence of a working atmosphere is evidenced by crowds of idle people on the streets (tourists do not count). For all that, a noticeable shift in the emphasis of business and everyday functions inside buildings is noticeable. Therefore, the aesthetic qualities of the city have ceased to be the object of attention of the townspeople, and the development of the external appearance of buildings does not attract architects, especially since architecture becomes the lot of industrial construction, and the city acquires its artistic appearance in the evening -by means of advertising design (fig. 5). Apathy and demobilization of architectural professionalism in the traditional understanding of the man-made nature of this ancient craft is confidently replaced by plastic and nickel high-tech, which does not yet allow the inhabitants to lose confidence in the profession of an architect.
But the crisis of the profession is obvious. Many construction entrepreneurs choose to do without an architect. It does not matter that the structures built without professional supervision look ridiculous and offend the eye of a specialist. This is a sign of the era. At one time, brutalists deliberately sought such an effect. Today, Western architecture is dominated by deconstructivism and ridiculous tendencies of irony and mockery of the aesthetics that support the traditional humanism of architecture. Attempts are being made to introduce the philosophy of decadence into the minds of people by demonstrating the decay of architectural forms, sophistication of silhouettes that do not evoke associations with structures belonging to human civilization (Fig. 6) [13].
In other words, the twilight deepened over the profession of an architect. At the peak of success in a highly competitive environment, there are no more than two dozen masters who have given their often scandalous names to large design firms (this form of PR is also valuable), where ordinary architects and engineers develop working materials for projects [14]. This is the current personnel balance of this ancient profession.

Conclusions
1. The paradoxical coexistence of positive and negative qualities of civilization, characteristic of the modern era, indicates their interdependence and interrelation, objectively confirming the formation of the prerequisites for the completion of the life cycle of the human race.
2. The object and visual indicator of the brilliant achievements of technical civilization against the background of social decadence and moral and physical degradation of a person is presented by an expository architecture that reflects the dead ends of form-creation, disregard for the laws of terrestrial tectonics, inhuman aesthetics.
3. It is too early (or is it too late?) to designate this stage in the development of world architecture as the crown of progress, as a synthesis of technical and artistic thought. Most likely, we are faced with illustrations of the decay ending in the singularity point preceding the catastrophe. Only after it the stage of avant-gardism will begin, the maturation of a new paradigm of being.
4. The observed life of society, the "parade of planets" of unexpected disasters generated both by the peaks of planetary cycles and by the follies of people, add up to an objective picture of the twilight of civilization, pre-established by the laws of the Universe, solemnly represented by the final extremism of architecture.
5. Of course, it's not all bad. And there is probably an opportunity to postpone the timing of the apocalypse. But the presentation of possible prospects for hopeful ways of supporting race is not part of our study. And there is no way back in evolution.