Of the many, many differences between modern and traditional architecture is that if you look at a modern building you have absolutely no idea where it is. It c

Of the many, many differences between modern and traditional architecture is that if you look at a modern building you have absolutely no idea where it is. It could be in Melbourne, Vancouver, Chicago, Santiago, Los Angeles, etc -- it doesn't matter, because there is no notion of working with local materials, using traditional local idioms. It doesn't try to "fit" into a neighborhood, it tries to stand out. Yes, there are some exceptions, but they are very few. The other thing that really bothers me is the lack of proper scale. It doesn't seem human scaled at all. Here walkability is a big problem as it's very unpleasant to walk around modern architecture. In the Federal building in San Francisco, which seems to be designed to intimidate, this is the view of someone walking by the north side: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7795358,-122.4125483,3a,75y,134.57h,88.67t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sYzpSvRhVg-TN1IPQ4H0ckw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DYzpSvRhVg-TN1IPQ4H0ckw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D183.33746%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192 https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7795358,-122.4125483,3a,75y,... East side: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7798315,-122.4116884,3a,75y,226.09h,110.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sPA-03x8-yufxc4scC9qC0A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7798315,-122.4116884,3a,75y,... south side: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.778619,-122.4117745,3a,75y,313.27h,85.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1slqttE8VpnqgXVHK2Ti4u6A!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DlqttE8VpnqgXVHK2Ti4u6A%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D271.53812%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192 https://www.google.com/maps/@37.778619,-122.4117745,3a,75y,3... West side: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7785627,-122.412846,3a,75y,44.26h,100.69t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sbu4CJUvi2_KXoodv1B_HJQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3Dbu4CJUvi2_KXoodv1B_HJQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D43.223248%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192 https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7785627,-122.412846,3a,75y,4... Suffice it to say, it doesn't promote walkability. Meanwhile, here is a much older federal building just a few blocks down: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7808148,-122.4143869,3a,75y,171.88h,77.06t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sNzsSJqKzwNVZNyXW_WkezQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7808148,-122.4143869,3a,75y,...