3 ms·

The Danger of Minimalist Design

16 points by lando2319 4y ago

car_analogy 4y ago
> Somebody might not like a detail (read: character) so there can be no details. I don't think this excuse is valid. People can dislike lack of character just as much or more than the "wrong" character. I certainly do.
Nasrudith 4y ago
I suspect the real motivation is cost in many cases. Minimalism involves less work to fabricate and cheaper machines. The ornate past tended towards "more expensive materials, cheaper labor". The cheapness also extends towards designs - it is harder to screw up minimalism. Look at architecture blogs snarking about McMansions and misuse of decorative features.
user00012-ab 4y ago
I'm surprised he didn't bring up cars; back in the day, cars had character, now they all have the same generic aerodynamic car shape. But I'm glad someone else thinks this, I've always thought it was kind of sad that building are so boring compared to building of the past which were covered in so many details. I was also wondering if some of this is tool related, as in, when using cad it's hard(er) to add those details in, so what you get are these boring cad created forms. Back when people designed interesting buildings, It was on paper, and they could do anything their imagination let them. One reason I find it's a bad idea to start on the computer as you are limited to how well you know how to use the program.
mromanuk 4y ago
> It is a troubling phenomenon because of what minimalism represents: a lack of detail. First example is an old fence with lots of character, has ornamental leaves on it, that doesn't add to the function at all, just to make it prettier. The modern one, it's minimal with better ergonomics and even look safer. Not sure if that's a good example, though.
MontyCarloHall 4y ago
Manufacturing labor is much more expensive than it used to be, so it’s no longer economically feasible to mass produce ornate buildings or goods. Most of the ornamentation depicted in the thread cannot be easily produced by automated manufacturing techniques; it requires skilled manual labor. There’s also an issue of survivorship bias—there were plenty of plain buildings and goods produced in the past, but they’ve mostly been torn down or thrown away. Only the grandest, most ornate buildings and goods have stood the test of time.
- car_analogy 4y ago
  > Manufacturing labor is much more expensive than it used to be, so it’s no longer economically feasible to mass produce ornate buildings or goods. That's the excuse architects give, yes. But look at the extravagant, price-is-not-a-factor designs that win architecture awards [1] - the same soulless lack-of-detail they claim is purely a cost cutting measure, even when other elements of the design are very expensive. It's profoundly obvious they are at best uninterested, and at worst actively hostile, to classical beauty [2,3]. [1] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=architecture+award+winner&iax=images&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=architecture+award+winner&iax=imag... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Wilhelm_Memorial_Church https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Wilhelm_Memorial_Church [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Forum#/media/File:Humboldt_Forum_10493.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Forum#/media/File:Hum...
  - MontyCarloHall 4y ago
    High-end aesthetics have evolved to reflect what’s financially feasible to mass produce, since design taste is driven in large part by common (i.e. not rare) design elements. I’d also argue that many of those award winners are still incredibly ornate [0,1,2], just not in a classical sense. That said, there are some critically acclaimed postmodern neoclassical buildings (e.g. Les Espaces d’Abraxas [3]), although these are indeed rare. [0] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=architecture+award+winner&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.designboom.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F04%2FA-design-award-competition-2013-2014-winners-designboom-01.jpg https://duckduckgo.com/?q=architecture+award+winner&iax=imag... [1] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=architecture+award+winner&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fwww.architecturelist.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F02%2Fwa-winners.jpg%3Ffit%3D1960%252C1080%26ssl%3D1 https://duckduckgo.com/?q=architecture+award+winner&iax=imag... [2] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=architecture+award+winner&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.designboom.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F04%2Fa-design-award-competition-winners-2016-designboom-16.jpg https://duckduckgo.com/?q=architecture+award+winner&iax=imag... [3] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=les+espaces+d%27abraxas&t=h_&ia=images&iax=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=les+espaces+d%27abraxas&t=h_&ia=im...
sdze 4y ago
To be honest, I kinda like the Brutalism idea as in "modern functionalism". Maybe that has to do because I grew up in a city that featured these brutalist buildings throughout the 60s, 70s, 80s. It is somewhat minimalistic but also contains some aesthetic quality.

16 points by lando2319 4y ago

> Somebody might not like a detail (read: character) so there can be no details. I don't think this excuse is valid. People can dislike lack of character just as much or more than the "wrong" character. I certainly do.

Nasrudith 4y ago

I suspect the real motivation is cost in many cases. Minimalism involves less work to fabricate and cheaper machines. The ornate past tended towards "more expensive materials, cheaper labor". The cheapness also extends towards designs - it is harder to screw up minimalism. Look at architecture blogs snarking about McMansions and misuse of decorative features.

user00012-ab 4y ago

I'm surprised he didn't bring up cars; back in the day, cars had character, now they all have the same generic aerodynamic car shape. But I'm glad someone else thinks this, I've always thought it was kind of sad that building are so boring compared to building of the past which were covered in so many details. I was also wondering if some of this is tool related, as in, when using cad it's hard(er) to add those details in, so what you get are these boring cad created forms. Back when people designed interesting buildings, It was on paper, and they could do anything their imagination let them. One reason I find it's a bad idea to start on the computer as you are limited to how well you know how to use the program.

mromanuk 4y ago

> It is a troubling phenomenon because of what minimalism represents: a lack of detail. First example is an old fence with lots of character, has ornamental leaves on it, that doesn't add to the function at all, just to make it prettier. The modern one, it's minimal with better ergonomics and even look safer. Not sure if that's a good example, though.

MontyCarloHall 4y ago

Manufacturing labor is much more expensive than it used to be, so it’s no longer economically feasible to mass produce ornate buildings or goods. Most of the ornamentation depicted in the thread cannot be easily produced by automated manufacturing techniques; it requires skilled manual labor. There’s also an issue of survivorship bias—there were plenty of plain buildings and goods produced in the past, but they’ve mostly been torn down or thrown away. Only the grandest, most ornate buildings and goods have stood the test of time.

car_analogy 4y ago
> Manufacturing labor is much more expensive than it used to be, so it’s no longer economically feasible to mass produce ornate buildings or goods. That's the excuse architects give, yes. But look at the extravagant, price-is-not-a-factor designs that win architecture awards [1] - the same soulless lack-of-detail they claim is purely a cost cutting measure, even when other elements of the design are very expensive. It's profoundly obvious they are at best uninterested, and at worst actively hostile, to classical beauty [2,3]. [1] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=architecture+award+winner&iax=images&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=architecture+award+winner&iax=imag... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Wilhelm_Memorial_Church https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Wilhelm_Memorial_Church [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Forum#/media/File:Humboldt_Forum_10493.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Forum#/media/File:Hum...
- MontyCarloHall 4y ago
  High-end aesthetics have evolved to reflect what’s financially feasible to mass produce, since design taste is driven in large part by common (i.e. not rare) design elements. I’d also argue that many of those award winners are still incredibly ornate [0,1,2], just not in a classical sense. That said, there are some critically acclaimed postmodern neoclassical buildings (e.g. Les Espaces d’Abraxas [3]), although these are indeed rare. [0] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=architecture+award+winner&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.designboom.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F04%2FA-design-award-competition-2013-2014-winners-designboom-01.jpg https://duckduckgo.com/?q=architecture+award+winner&iax=imag... [1] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=architecture+award+winner&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fwww.architecturelist.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F02%2Fwa-winners.jpg%3Ffit%3D1960%252C1080%26ssl%3D1 https://duckduckgo.com/?q=architecture+award+winner&iax=imag... [2] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=architecture+award+winner&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.designboom.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F04%2Fa-design-award-competition-winners-2016-designboom-16.jpg https://duckduckgo.com/?q=architecture+award+winner&iax=imag... [3] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=les+espaces+d%27abraxas&t=h_&ia=images&iax=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=les+espaces+d%27abraxas&t=h_&ia=im...

sdze 4y ago

To be honest, I kinda like the Brutalism idea as in "modern functionalism". Maybe that has to do because I grew up in a city that featured these brutalist buildings throughout the 60s, 70s, 80s. It is somewhat minimalistic but also contains some aesthetic quality.