4 ms·

> The lack of balance, proportion, controlling lines[1] and symmetry are all bad aspects of nearly all modern (in the chronological sense) architecture, not sim

> The lack of balance, proportion, controlling lines[1] and symmetry are all bad aspects of nearly all modern (in the chronological sense) architecture, not simply McMansions. Postmodern architecture is surely a controversial topic on its own, but I believe the issues with McMansions raised in the article is their amateurish mimicry of canonical architectural styles. They throw in a column here, a bay window there, without understanding the why or how of these design features in context. As someone else in the thread mentioned, its like a bad machine learning-generated version of the traditional architectural styles.

carsongross 10y ago
Would the amaturish aping of a high modernist style be better? The aping of traditional style is the most forgivable aspect of McMansions. At least they are trying to connect with the timeless way of building, however incompetently.
- jonnathanson 10y ago
  Bad modernist architecture often places style over substance. Such houses subordinate the livability and logic of interior spaces to the needs of the exterior's aesthetic. So you end up with a "cool looking" house on the outside, whose living spaces are poorly laid out, disjointed, inharmoniously transitioned, or simply make odd choices out of necessity.
- hx87 10y ago
  Trying and failing horribly, which is arguably worse than not trying at all. It's sad, really, because aping traditional style isn't difficult at all unless you're trying to tack on as much bling as possible. There are plenty of simple, elegant houses from the 1800s and early 1900s in every city in the United States that serve as excellent templates.
wbillingsley 10y ago
McMansions seem rather well designed for their brief (at least compared to smaller modern suburban homes). Pseudo-principles such as "balance" don't actually matter all that much -- people spend remarkably little time in the position those images are taken from. The principles that might suit, say, Chatsworth House laid out in picturesque English countryside (which really can be seen in all its glory from its surrounds) do not apply to a large suburban home on a relatively small plot. Most of the time, the observer is not far enough back to see the whole house at all. They are in a garden, not very far outside one of the doors, or inside the house. What many McManions do quite well is that if you travel around the house a short distance outside it (say 5m from the wall), it shows you a variety of interesting partial aspects. You can never see the whole thing but if it's well done then wherever you are in the garden will look fairly pleasant, and will feel slightly larger as the lack of continuity means you don't have a visual reminder of how short a distance you have travelled. And meanwhile, the many different secondary masses means you have different aspects from inside the house onto a small set of grounds. Feeling bigger and more luxurious than it is, or than it costs, close-up (rather than looking glorious when seen from a good distance) is the brief of a McMansion.

carsongross 10y ago

Would the amaturish aping of a high modernist style be better? The aping of traditional style is the most forgivable aspect of McMansions. At least they are trying to connect with the timeless way of building, however incompetently.

jonnathanson 10y ago
Bad modernist architecture often places style over substance. Such houses subordinate the livability and logic of interior spaces to the needs of the exterior's aesthetic. So you end up with a "cool looking" house on the outside, whose living spaces are poorly laid out, disjointed, inharmoniously transitioned, or simply make odd choices out of necessity.
hx87 10y ago
Trying and failing horribly, which is arguably worse than not trying at all. It's sad, really, because aping traditional style isn't difficult at all unless you're trying to tack on as much bling as possible. There are plenty of simple, elegant houses from the 1800s and early 1900s in every city in the United States that serve as excellent templates.

wbillingsley 10y ago

McMansions seem rather well designed for their brief (at least compared to smaller modern suburban homes). Pseudo-principles such as "balance" don't actually matter all that much -- people spend remarkably little time in the position those images are taken from. The principles that might suit, say, Chatsworth House laid out in picturesque English countryside (which really can be seen in all its glory from its surrounds) do not apply to a large suburban home on a relatively small plot. Most of the time, the observer is not far enough back to see the whole house at all. They are in a garden, not very far outside one of the doors, or inside the house. What many McManions do quite well is that if you travel around the house a short distance outside it (say 5m from the wall), it shows you a variety of interesting partial aspects. You can never see the whole thing but if it's well done then wherever you are in the garden will look fairly pleasant, and will feel slightly larger as the lack of continuity means you don't have a visual reminder of how short a distance you have travelled. And meanwhile, the many different secondary masses means you have different aspects from inside the house onto a small set of grounds. Feeling bigger and more luxurious than it is, or than it costs, close-up (rather than looking glorious when seen from a good distance) is the brief of a McMansion.