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I have a distinct impression that half the modern architects are in on the conspiracy to demean and hinder the people who use their creation. Looking at most mo
by DenisM 11y ago
I have a distinct impression that half the modern architects are in on the conspiracy to demean and hinder the people who use their creation. Looking at most modern buildings they are either imposing or convoluted.
- jahnu 11y agoAre they really or do we only notice the ones that stick out?
- guard-of-terra 11y agoWe note ones thas are awful, while most of modern buildings are "just" bad. Of course this is subjective, but when you walk a street built in early XX century, every building blends in while being nice in detail. When you meet a building built in later age, it either sticks out, too geometrical, too glossy, strangely shaped for no reason, looks cheap, lacks details... It is never good enough.
- Gibbon1 11y agoI have some thoughts on this, one that notes that the tax laws highly discourage ordinary businesses from owning buildings. To the need to build a ton of cheap stuff during the twentieth century population explosion. The introduction of new materials. The belief that progress was so fast that these new buildings would soon be surpassed and torn down. And finally general post WWI and especially WWII nihilism. Plus the extremely milign offects of B.F. Skinner[1]. Behaviorism teaches us that humans will successful 'adapt' to whatever horrible yet convenient for those running things environment we subject them to.
- guard-of-terra 11y ago"introduction of new materials" This is where fun starts. "New" materials look like crap and become worn down in a few decades. Meanwhile "old" materials look expensive and pass century test. One can argue "new" materials are cheaper, but buildings still cost awful amounts of money so it likely didn't help.
- GFK_of_xmaspast 11y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture#Criticism_and_reception https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture#Critici...
- agumonkey 11y agoI find this era as fascinating as horrifying. It's surreal dreamy and timeless yet inhuman at the same time. ps: some scenes of Total Recall were filmed in a military school in Mexico which such design. As a kid not knowing that school, it made 30% of the realism of that movie.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- dang 11y agoChristopher Alexander has been making this point for many years, that modern highbrow architects designs buildings without concern for the people who will live and work in them.
- Animats 11y agoThere have been some awful architectural fads. - The MIT Stata Building.[1] The real world version of Dr. Seuss. Menlo-Atherton High School got stuck with an auditorium in a somewhat similar style. - Twisted skyscrapers.[2] Panama City now has the world's biggest screw. - Buildings with huge holes in them. The Grand Arch du la Defense near Paris started this trend, and there are striking examples in Beijing.[3] Roofing over large areas with glass and then putting open-plan spaces into them is not unusual for air terminals, convention centers, and malls. The Crystal Palace started the trend in the mid 19th century. Google is proposing to build one for offices. This may be more cool-looking than useful.[4] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_and_Maria_Stata_Center https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_and_Maria_Stata_Center [2] http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/04/twisted-skyscrapers-around-world.html http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/04/twisted-skyscrapers-aro... [3] http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=3414 http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/overview/ind... [4] http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/google-shows-off-plans-for-its-futuristic-new-headquarters/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/google-shows-off-plan...