talking to the textman about architecture

A friend recently told me about Cha Cha, a text messaging service that supposedly provides "free mobile answers" to whatever questions are asked of it. Having decided to test Cha Cha's architectural chops, I started off vague: Q: "What are some prevalent schools of architecture?" Cha Cha's response ran the gamut: "Art Deco, Bauhaus, Victorian, Edwardian, Beaux Arts, Neo Gothic and Romanesque are some of the main architecture styles." Bizarre selections to say the least. Next, I got personal: "Who is the most important architect of all time, in your robotic opinion?" Cha Cha quickly became indignant: "I am not a robot, but here are a few famous architects: Frank Lloyd Wright, Fumihiko Maki, Carlo Scarpa, Alvaro Siza, Aldo Rossi." Wright I expected, but the other four? I was amazed that Cha Cha chose to drop the name Maki in place of Gaudi, Gehry, or Le Corbusier. Impressed, I got specific and requested the phonetic pronunciation of the latter: "Le Kor-Boo-Zya is the phonetic pronunciation of Le Corbusier. [note: it isn't.] Thanks for using Cha Cha today!"

(Maki, yesterday.)