3 ms·

I was excited to see that Kate Wagner was contributing to this most recent issue of the Baffler. A related article from the same issue discusses the cheapness o

• ethbr0 3y ago
  The custom vs mass-produced perspective is more interesting to me, bcause generally everything in recent architecture has distilled down to -- can it be mass-produced? Plaster and lath? Can't be mass produced/installed. Out of style. Crown moulding? Can't be mass produced/installed. Out of style. Solid wood flooring? Can't be mass produced/installed. Out of style. Brick? Can't be mass produced/installed. Out of style. One begins to see a pattern and wonder if "style" is actually "what makes more profit for builders."
  • bombcar 3y ago
    It's less builder profit and more "how can we maximize the things people compare". Builders hate finicky stupid shit [1], and charge accordingly, but big empty rooms are easy. People ask "how much house can I buy" and get $400k, say, and choose the largest sq ft with the amenities they want, instead of smaller with more design/amenities. And that's not even to say they're always entirely wrong; you should spend on the things that are expensive to change later (location, foundation, etc) perhaps; like a church that is built with plain windows because you can always add stained glass later. [1] an example my friend hated as a roofer were the little decorative things on the corners of a roof (corner gables? no idea) - he charged something like $2k per because of the absolute huge amount of absolutely fiddly labor required to build and roof them, and hated every minute of it.