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People always complain about the contemporary building style, just as they did about all those ticky tacky Victorian homes built here on the west coast, or the

People always complain about the contemporary building style, just as they did about all those ticky tacky Victorian homes built here on the west coast, or the ugly repetitive brown stones in Brooklyn. Personally, I don't think there would be any less opposition to these homes, no matter the visual appearance. People simply hate change, until they experience it, after which they quickly adjust and forget there was a problem to begin with. And towards that end, I think that any visual standard should be completely disqualified from evaluation of building plans; that is, unless there is a pre-approved, and affordable, style of building that will always be approved no matter what. Otherwise, quibbling over appearances will always be a veto point that will be used regardless of appearances.

quacked 4y ago
> People always complain about the contemporary building style This is always mentioned, and it's just not true. If it were true that people always "quickly adjust and forget there was a problem" then those all-concrete freeway plaza towns would be "beloved" instead of reviled, and the "all highways all the time" city remodeling would be considered perfectly acceptable by everyone. It is actually possible to build an ugly city that remains ugly after the contemporary ethos has passed. No one's buying plane tickets to visit the architecture in Columbus, OH.
- epistasis 4y ago
  > This is always mentioned, and it's just not true Are you saying there's a building style that's not criticized while it's being built? Could you give an example? The rest of the paragraph instead focused on people not living Colombus, OH, which I'm not sure how you got to. The primary reason people aren't flocking to Colombus OH is because of the lack of jobs. People tend to flock places because of economic opportunity, not because of architecture.
  - reducesuffering 4y ago
    Umm, people are definitely are flocking to Columbus OH and it's probably because of jobs, it's one of the fastest growing cities in the US. GP was saying they're not going because of architecture, orthogonal to whether they're net migrating or not...
  - quacked 4y ago
    Automoderator was on me for posting too quickly last night. No, I'm saying that the fact that new styles are always criticized is not implicit proof that all styles eventually become accepted. I will clarify that by "flocking" I meant "visiting". Some people live in cities and towns that are so nice other people want to visit those cities--New York, Paris, Florence, Aix-en-Provence, whatever. This effect is not limited to large cities--there are also smaller towns that people deliberately go and spend vacation time in just to feel a sense of actually appreciating the buildings and paths they're surrounded by. When they're not spending their PTO touring actually nice places, they live in the Modern American City, which is a place to exist while you drive between your apartment box, your job box, and your preferred entertainment center.
hooverd 4y ago
No, they're the worst of both worlds. It's design review than makes them look ugly. If it were true that people just don't like change then people would love brutalism by now.

quacked 4y ago

> People always complain about the contemporary building style This is always mentioned, and it's just not true. If it were true that people always "quickly adjust and forget there was a problem" then those all-concrete freeway plaza towns would be "beloved" instead of reviled, and the "all highways all the time" city remodeling would be considered perfectly acceptable by everyone. It is actually possible to build an ugly city that remains ugly after the contemporary ethos has passed. No one's buying plane tickets to visit the architecture in Columbus, OH.

epistasis 4y ago
> This is always mentioned, and it's just not true Are you saying there's a building style that's not criticized while it's being built? Could you give an example? The rest of the paragraph instead focused on people not living Colombus, OH, which I'm not sure how you got to. The primary reason people aren't flocking to Colombus OH is because of the lack of jobs. People tend to flock places because of economic opportunity, not because of architecture.
- reducesuffering 4y ago
  Umm, people are definitely are flocking to Columbus OH and it's probably because of jobs, it's one of the fastest growing cities in the US. GP was saying they're not going because of architecture, orthogonal to whether they're net migrating or not...
- quacked 4y ago
  Automoderator was on me for posting too quickly last night. No, I'm saying that the fact that new styles are always criticized is not implicit proof that all styles eventually become accepted. I will clarify that by "flocking" I meant "visiting". Some people live in cities and towns that are so nice other people want to visit those cities--New York, Paris, Florence, Aix-en-Provence, whatever. This effect is not limited to large cities--there are also smaller towns that people deliberately go and spend vacation time in just to feel a sense of actually appreciating the buildings and paths they're surrounded by. When they're not spending their PTO touring actually nice places, they live in the Modern American City, which is a place to exist while you drive between your apartment box, your job box, and your preferred entertainment center.

hooverd 4y ago

No, they're the worst of both worlds. It's design review than makes them look ugly. If it were true that people just don't like change then people would love brutalism by now.