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This is a little ranty so it's difficult at a skim to get the core arguments of the author down But the main call to action seems to be to preserve local cultu

This is a little ranty so it's difficult at a skim to get the core arguments of the author down But the main call to action seems to be to preserve local culture, architecture, and design, rather than letting the world become a homogenized corporate sameness enforced by hegemonic powers. A noble goal, but not one that's really actionable. The architectural sameness spreads for the reason most architecture spreads, which is practicality. Ultimately the people with deep pockets build and buy, and those people are influenced by current trends and what is most practical (affordable and featureful). You can show me the most beautiful architecture in the world, and I'll show you a builder creating a bastardized version of it with 30% more square feet. The mcmansion with 30% more square feet makes the sale.

Spivak 6y ago
Collective action, especially purchase preferences, are notoriously hard to change but that's where the action comes from. The trend of putting every dollar into square footage, number of bedrooms/bathrooms, didn't come from nowhere. They are easily quantifiable metrics about a house that sorta-kinda-if-you-squint give you an impression of livability and they're what every house searching tool gives users to filter on and $/sq. ft is the most prominently displayed metric for "value." Worse, even if you don't care about playing stupid games, you still likely have to play if you ever want to sell your house. Changing how we evaluate the quality of a house changes how they're built.
- helen___keller 6y ago
  That's true. I've been looking at housing a lot because I'm hoping to buy next spring, since my wife and I finally just finished saving enough for a down payment. I've started considering it a "smell", if you will, when a recently-constructed single family home is in the range of 2800-3500 square feet. Almost inevitably, I look at more detailed pictures on the floor plan and layout and see all sorts of weird choices - a little "half office" right at the top of the stairs not even in its own room (just like, an empty space). Questionably shaped rooms that interact strangely with the roof. And so on. Additionally, my personal preference is not even to have that much space - I'm nearly content with 1000sqft for a family of 3, what could I do with 3 times that much? - but I must confess that I do play the value-per-sqft game without meaning to when I'm comparing a 1500 sqft against a 2000 sqft home.
  - Spivak 6y ago
    I'm in the same boat. Currently looking at houses but largely content with out roughly 1100 sq ft two bedroom apartment for a family of tree. I wish I could find houses where the layouts are as thoughtfully planned as our current place. It's so frustrating to tour a house that's on paper twice the size but manages to feel smaller. Like I can fit more stuff in the house but it's not any more livable.
    - ksdale 6y ago
      My wife and I have always felt this way, we could fit our rather large family in a much smaller space if it was designed around the way we spend our days. When we had 2 toddlers and an infant and went apartment searching, we kept getting shoehorned into 3 bedroom apartments because of the size of our family, but half the time, the apartments just traded space in the living room for an extra bedroom, which we didn't really need because the kids spent all of their time with us in the living room. We often felt like we were being judged for not wanting more space for the kids, when in reality we were trying to find the biggest common space we could.
      - ryandrake 6y ago
        Square-footage-cram is a lot like feature-cram in software. We don't like to do it, but it's unfortunately how we have to market to unsophisticated "checkbox buyers" of product. I would personally love a half-sized well-designed home with character and a unique architecture that uses its area well. But, you have to pay an arm an a leg for it. Unfortunately the budget market caters to buyers who limit their home criteria to "price per square foot". So instead we get giant borg cube houses built right up to the lot line.
    - hindsightbias 6y ago
      If you can new-build, https://rosschapin.com/plans/ https://rosschapin.com/plans/
Gravityloss 6y ago
There's the universal "not invented here" syndrome though. Often I find a lot of good ideas, proven in practice - that simply can not be taken to use somewhere else.
skohan 6y ago
If you want nice architecture, it basically has to be legislated. The neighborhood I grew up in is full of beautiful, unique homes, but this is only because there was a law on the books that no 2 homes on the same block could use the same floor-plan or facade, and each house had to be designed independently by an architect. That plus aggressive rules about how homes and properties have to be maintained. It's a great place to live, but it's not without its cost. Surely it would be more efficient to print out a bunch of template homes, but if you want distinctive architecture you have to prioritize it.
specialist 6y ago
Ya, OP is wisdom-free whinge fest. From the OP: "Historically, political and economic dominance have dictated building styles." Well, ya. But what of the material and technical? I'm very interested in differences. Yayaya, everything's the same. Hegemony, "kids these days", and other old saws. But things are also different. If you look long enough, close enough. Why? Even in the small, differences are really very interesting, can have far reaching impacts. I've been slowly remodeling my house, built in the 50s. The 30 years I've owned this house, the available materials, technologies, and products have greatly changed. Frankly, it's hard for a noob casual like me to keep up. But even with my limited awareness, I can see how each new innovation impacts new construction. For better or worse, depending on one's esthetics. These differences percolate out. One of the few perks of getting older is the opportunity to see the changes on a longer time scale.
philwelch 6y ago
This is true-ish. Building techniques have a lot of regional factors. How much rainfall do you get? Does the ground freeze? Is the ground dry and solid enough for basements? Do you need to worry about heating, cooling, or both? Humidity? There are a lot of practical reasons for architecture to differ from place to place even today. At the same time, materials are more homogenous because more of them are engineered and shipped across the country, so that contributes to some homogeniety, as does the media environment.

Spivak 6y ago

Collective action, especially purchase preferences, are notoriously hard to change but that's where the action comes from. The trend of putting every dollar into square footage, number of bedrooms/bathrooms, didn't come from nowhere. They are easily quantifiable metrics about a house that sorta-kinda-if-you-squint give you an impression of livability and they're what every house searching tool gives users to filter on and $/sq. ft is the most prominently displayed metric for "value." Worse, even if you don't care about playing stupid games, you still likely have to play if you ever want to sell your house. Changing how we evaluate the quality of a house changes how they're built.

helen___keller 6y ago
That's true. I've been looking at housing a lot because I'm hoping to buy next spring, since my wife and I finally just finished saving enough for a down payment. I've started considering it a "smell", if you will, when a recently-constructed single family home is in the range of 2800-3500 square feet. Almost inevitably, I look at more detailed pictures on the floor plan and layout and see all sorts of weird choices - a little "half office" right at the top of the stairs not even in its own room (just like, an empty space). Questionably shaped rooms that interact strangely with the roof. And so on. Additionally, my personal preference is not even to have that much space - I'm nearly content with 1000sqft for a family of 3, what could I do with 3 times that much? - but I must confess that I do play the value-per-sqft game without meaning to when I'm comparing a 1500 sqft against a 2000 sqft home.
- Spivak 6y ago
  I'm in the same boat. Currently looking at houses but largely content with out roughly 1100 sq ft two bedroom apartment for a family of tree. I wish I could find houses where the layouts are as thoughtfully planned as our current place. It's so frustrating to tour a house that's on paper twice the size but manages to feel smaller. Like I can fit more stuff in the house but it's not any more livable.
  - ksdale 6y ago
    My wife and I have always felt this way, we could fit our rather large family in a much smaller space if it was designed around the way we spend our days. When we had 2 toddlers and an infant and went apartment searching, we kept getting shoehorned into 3 bedroom apartments because of the size of our family, but half the time, the apartments just traded space in the living room for an extra bedroom, which we didn't really need because the kids spent all of their time with us in the living room. We often felt like we were being judged for not wanting more space for the kids, when in reality we were trying to find the biggest common space we could.
    - ryandrake 6y ago
      Square-footage-cram is a lot like feature-cram in software. We don't like to do it, but it's unfortunately how we have to market to unsophisticated "checkbox buyers" of product. I would personally love a half-sized well-designed home with character and a unique architecture that uses its area well. But, you have to pay an arm an a leg for it. Unfortunately the budget market caters to buyers who limit their home criteria to "price per square foot". So instead we get giant borg cube houses built right up to the lot line.
  - hindsightbias 6y ago
    If you can new-build, https://rosschapin.com/plans/ https://rosschapin.com/plans/

Gravityloss 6y ago

There's the universal "not invented here" syndrome though. Often I find a lot of good ideas, proven in practice - that simply can not be taken to use somewhere else.

skohan 6y ago

If you want nice architecture, it basically has to be legislated. The neighborhood I grew up in is full of beautiful, unique homes, but this is only because there was a law on the books that no 2 homes on the same block could use the same floor-plan or facade, and each house had to be designed independently by an architect. That plus aggressive rules about how homes and properties have to be maintained. It's a great place to live, but it's not without its cost. Surely it would be more efficient to print out a bunch of template homes, but if you want distinctive architecture you have to prioritize it.

specialist 6y ago

Ya, OP is wisdom-free whinge fest. From the OP: "Historically, political and economic dominance have dictated building styles." Well, ya. But what of the material and technical? I'm very interested in differences. Yayaya, everything's the same. Hegemony, "kids these days", and other old saws. But things are also different. If you look long enough, close enough. Why? Even in the small, differences are really very interesting, can have far reaching impacts. I've been slowly remodeling my house, built in the 50s. The 30 years I've owned this house, the available materials, technologies, and products have greatly changed. Frankly, it's hard for a noob casual like me to keep up. But even with my limited awareness, I can see how each new innovation impacts new construction. For better or worse, depending on one's esthetics. These differences percolate out. One of the few perks of getting older is the opportunity to see the changes on a longer time scale.

philwelch 6y ago

This is true-ish. Building techniques have a lot of regional factors. How much rainfall do you get? Does the ground freeze? Is the ground dry and solid enough for basements? Do you need to worry about heating, cooling, or both? Humidity? There are a lot of practical reasons for architecture to differ from place to place even today. At the same time, materials are more homogenous because more of them are engineered and shipped across the country, so that contributes to some homogeniety, as does the media environment.