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Maybe I'm wrong, but it feels like modern architecture is about cutting labor and material costs as much as possible. Old architecture had craftsmen put a lot o

by Apes 3y ago

Maybe I'm wrong, but it feels like modern architecture is about cutting labor and material costs as much as possible. Old architecture had craftsmen put a lot of time into things like smooth plaster walls, molding, wainscoting, herringbone floors, and decorative exteriors. Modern architecture is founded on the principal of hiring the cheapest labor possible to throw up the cheapest drywall available and covering it up with texture to hide the low quality - then charging as much as buildings using the older, higher quality methods. Of course modern architecture is just going to look bland, generic, and low quality compared to old architecture - there's only about 10% the effort put into it.

andersrs 3y ago
Some of the examples in the blog have complex features like cantilevered spaces. The wall of glass look must be more expensive than plain concrete walls. It can't be all about cost.
yakshaving_jgt 3y ago
This is the comment I was looking for. If I remember correctly, there have been a number of scandals in Gothenburg around new residential buildings being built cheaply and badly. Most infamous perhaps are the apartment buildings that popped up about a decade ago on Friggagatan, which the local newspaper described as “fuskbygget”. Being there feels a bit like being in prison too.
akomtu 3y ago
It's more than that. Every element of western architecture, from sidewalks to office buildings, is devoid of art. Just look around. Our architecture is stereometric brutalism made of identical concrete slabs of plain gray appearance. Note, that it would cost nothing to imprint sidewalk slabs with some ornament when those slabs are still liquid concrete, but not only there is no desire for such art expression, the public would ridicule such an idea. It's telling that there is no such thing as American ornament or art style. Even clothes that westerners wear are plain bland lookalike. The western society lays squashed under the immense pressure of the utilitarian mindset, the same mindset that's creating its science.

by Apes 3y ago

andersrs 3y ago

Some of the examples in the blog have complex features like cantilevered spaces. The wall of glass look must be more expensive than plain concrete walls. It can't be all about cost.

yakshaving_jgt 3y ago

This is the comment I was looking for. If I remember correctly, there have been a number of scandals in Gothenburg around new residential buildings being built cheaply and badly. Most infamous perhaps are the apartment buildings that popped up about a decade ago on Friggagatan, which the local newspaper described as “fuskbygget”. Being there feels a bit like being in prison too.

akomtu 3y ago

It's more than that. Every element of western architecture, from sidewalks to office buildings, is devoid of art. Just look around. Our architecture is stereometric brutalism made of identical concrete slabs of plain gray appearance. Note, that it would cost nothing to imprint sidewalk slabs with some ornament when those slabs are still liquid concrete, but not only there is no desire for such art expression, the public would ridicule such an idea. It's telling that there is no such thing as American ornament or art style. Even clothes that westerners wear are plain bland lookalike. The western society lays squashed under the immense pressure of the utilitarian mindset, the same mindset that's creating its science.