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I read from start of the thread till the end when I hit your post. Thank you for lowering my blood pressure. This is not 'snobbish higher class looking down on

I read from start of the thread till the end when I hit your post. Thank you for lowering my blood pressure. This is not 'snobbish higher class looking down on middle class.' When you see tens of thousands of anything, you start to pick up on best-practices. For example, in Vancouver, where the house prices _start_ at $1.7 million, there are tons of $5+ million McMansion here. Due to my line of work, I see and enter them every day. Their owners are likely 1000x wealthier than me, but I can tell you confidently that I think their houses are ugly. Would I get the house if I can afford it? Sure. I need a house to live in, and a McMansion is a good functional house. To make a somewhat inappropriate analogy- An Indian outsourcing company' programmers have written some terrible , but functional code. Other people took a look at the source files and point out that, yes, they are indeed terrible (maybe too many goto? Or global variables.) It is not ethnic discrimination to point out the code is terrible. Along a similar vein, 'you spend most of your time indoor anyway. Why do you care what the house look like externally?' Just because something is functional, doesn't mean it shouldn't (or can't) look good to most people. You might not care, and I wish I don't care how your house look either. But general art principles exist because most people _do_ care, at least subconsciously. As an aside- If you dare to build it, then be prepared to have others critique it. Another argument, 'the author should concentrate on the general poor build quality of McMansion.' In Vancouver, I've seen $5+ million McMansion built with the best material and craftsmanship anyone could find. They are McMansion due to their design, not their quality. Finally, 'I like the McMansion in the article better!' Well, good for you. This is like different computer languages- some people like all the features a language provide them (eg. C++0x), while others like language that adheres to what it does best (Heskell, Lisp etc.) Most people prefer orderly items.

bjterry 10y ago
Thank you for the kind comment. It's interesting that you say that the build quality is very high on some of these homes. I was debating the issue with someone before writing this comment and that was a question I had. I was thinking about how craftsmanship and art exist on somewhat different dimensions for creative endeavors. For example, someone who is poor at the craft of music won't be able to create a song that's listenable, but someone who is excellent at the craft but poor at the art will create something that is technically excellently but unmoving emotionally. Or in web design, this would be a site which very carefully recreates any of a million expensive corporate landing pages but doesn't have any character of its own. There are also examples the other way, of imperfectly executed creative works that nonetheless are effective on an emotional level[1]. I don't know enough about architecture to say, but it seems possible that the people who build these homes may be lacking in this second, artistic aspect. 1: I recently watched Hachi: A Dog's Tale. It is notable in that the craftsmanship of the film is merely adequate, by traditional film metrics, but it's so incredibly emotional that it has won a place on the IMDB Top 250 films. I would also point to Stephen King, who is one of the most impactful people alive when it comes to TV and film, not to mention his prolific writings, but his stories don't show the craftsmanship of one of the literary greats.
- guardiangod 10y ago
  From what I've seen in Vancouver, quality and design are separate. You can hire a first-class designer, then hire a third-rate builder to construct the building, and vice versa. These events happen every day. It all depends on how much the developer wants to spend. As an aside (Flame suit on: I am Chinese), most extreme high-end houses ($3 mill and up) here are bought by wealthy Chinese immigrants/investors. This leads to 2 situations- If the house is built by a developer, then the quality tends to be low. Even the worst Vancouver builder's craftsmanship is better than what you would normally get in China. This means that the developers have no incentive to pay extra as the buyer would be impressed regardless. So McMansion with low quality. If the house is built by wealthy immigrants, however, then the quality tend to be very high. When money is no objection, it's amazing how much quality you can get... So McMansion with high quality. More aside: This particular style of house is all the rage in Vancouver suburbia in the last 5 years. http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/drastic-pruning-of-200-year-old-richmond-tree-triggers-rcmp-probe-1.3014683 http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/drastic-pruning-of-200-year-old... Imagine seeing 20 of these new houses in 1 suburbia street :( It's quite dispiriting.

bjterry 10y ago

Thank you for the kind comment. It's interesting that you say that the build quality is very high on some of these homes. I was debating the issue with someone before writing this comment and that was a question I had. I was thinking about how craftsmanship and art exist on somewhat different dimensions for creative endeavors. For example, someone who is poor at the craft of music won't be able to create a song that's listenable, but someone who is excellent at the craft but poor at the art will create something that is technically excellently but unmoving emotionally. Or in web design, this would be a site which very carefully recreates any of a million expensive corporate landing pages but doesn't have any character of its own. There are also examples the other way, of imperfectly executed creative works that nonetheless are effective on an emotional level[1]. I don't know enough about architecture to say, but it seems possible that the people who build these homes may be lacking in this second, artistic aspect. 1: I recently watched Hachi: A Dog's Tale. It is notable in that the craftsmanship of the film is merely adequate, by traditional film metrics, but it's so incredibly emotional that it has won a place on the IMDB Top 250 films. I would also point to Stephen King, who is one of the most impactful people alive when it comes to TV and film, not to mention his prolific writings, but his stories don't show the craftsmanship of one of the literary greats.

guardiangod 10y ago
From what I've seen in Vancouver, quality and design are separate. You can hire a first-class designer, then hire a third-rate builder to construct the building, and vice versa. These events happen every day. It all depends on how much the developer wants to spend. As an aside (Flame suit on: I am Chinese), most extreme high-end houses ($3 mill and up) here are bought by wealthy Chinese immigrants/investors. This leads to 2 situations- If the house is built by a developer, then the quality tends to be low. Even the worst Vancouver builder's craftsmanship is better than what you would normally get in China. This means that the developers have no incentive to pay extra as the buyer would be impressed regardless. So McMansion with low quality. If the house is built by wealthy immigrants, however, then the quality tend to be very high. When money is no objection, it's amazing how much quality you can get... So McMansion with high quality. More aside: This particular style of house is all the rage in Vancouver suburbia in the last 5 years. http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/drastic-pruning-of-200-year-old-richmond-tree-triggers-rcmp-probe-1.3014683 http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/drastic-pruning-of-200-year-old... Imagine seeing 20 of these new houses in 1 suburbia street :( It's quite dispiriting.