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McMansions look cheap -- this is their defining quality imo, more so than any of the more abstract qualities the article discusses. Even people without much fo

by jonahx 10y ago

McMansions look cheap -- this is their defining quality imo, more so than any of the more abstract qualities the article discusses. Even people without much formal knowledge of architecture (like myself) have an intuitive sense of what cheap wood or ersatz brick look like. You can just immediately sense the economy of the construction.

tbihl 10y ago
There's an urbanist podcast/nonprofit that releases really good, approachable content, and I recently saw a video they did where they went into a typical subdivision and just looked at the houses. In particular, he singled out the complete lack of any porches, saying "these are people who can't afford their houses. If you live out in this countryside place, the absolute highest-returning space is the deck/porch. It wouldn't take more than maybe 10k to construct really good porches (less than 10% even in this cheap area), and not a single house has one. That means they built a huge house and ran out of money before they could build the most important part." I guess that's just a different way of saying what you're saying. I think buyers choose mcmansions for a couple reasons. The first are the ones sucked into it by the school or proximity to work (where proximity is VERY subjective.) The others actually want those houses, either because it's a cheap structure in which they can imitate the many nice interiors they've collected in their heads, or because they want to build their walls to encompass a maximum volume, hoping that their house will insulate them from all the shit in their work and commute while they're in it.
jccalhoun 10y ago
I remember noticing this back when MTV Cribs was a thing. So many of the people on there had these big houses that had huge bare white walls everywhere and the same staircase and living room with the 15 foot ceiling and one wall of windows. When they showed a house that was older and was better quality it was a stark difference.

by jonahx 10y ago

tbihl 10y ago

There's an urbanist podcast/nonprofit that releases really good, approachable content, and I recently saw a video they did where they went into a typical subdivision and just looked at the houses. In particular, he singled out the complete lack of any porches, saying "these are people who can't afford their houses. If you live out in this countryside place, the absolute highest-returning space is the deck/porch. It wouldn't take more than maybe 10k to construct really good porches (less than 10% even in this cheap area), and not a single house has one. That means they built a huge house and ran out of money before they could build the most important part." I guess that's just a different way of saying what you're saying. I think buyers choose mcmansions for a couple reasons. The first are the ones sucked into it by the school or proximity to work (where proximity is VERY subjective.) The others actually want those houses, either because it's a cheap structure in which they can imitate the many nice interiors they've collected in their heads, or because they want to build their walls to encompass a maximum volume, hoping that their house will insulate them from all the shit in their work and commute while they're in it.

jccalhoun 10y ago

I remember noticing this back when MTV Cribs was a thing. So many of the people on there had these big houses that had huge bare white walls everywhere and the same staircase and living room with the 15 foot ceiling and one wall of windows. When they showed a house that was older and was better quality it was a stark difference.