mtswIt's funny that the "zomg beautiful traditional architecture is so much better than dreary modernism" guys are all enamored with the American far right, whose aesthetic and land use preferences would make every building in the country look like an Amazon Fulfillment Center
For all the talk about the blandness of 5-over-1s and gentrifier coffee shops very little attention or scrutiny is given the biggest bastion of American modern architectural philistinism: exurban megachurches
This type of shit is the modern American contribution - built almost exclusively by right wing reactionaries! - to the most historically important type of building in Western culture. Absolute dogshit!
This stuff never comes in for censure from either the TradArch fascists or the FailedArch Bedtime-Abolition leftists who are both weirdly obsessed with debating the merits of a handful of brutalist landmarks instead of the overwhelmingly dominant style of American 21st century architecture.
Unquestionably the Most American home of this era. Makes me want to salute the flag like homer in the American embassy in Australia watching the toilets flow counter clockwise
Russ Copeland@mtsw the American dream on a budget.
rmaxwell@mtsw The funny thing is that the Chicago brick bungalow is the closest to a platonic ideal for housing.
But it is so intertwined with urbanism and Chicago- four-letter words to a good part of the country. It's also too expensive because we've gone both more expensive (in price) and cheaper (in quality) with our housing.
@rmaxwell Baltimore brick rowhouses
V E R S A Y C E@mtsw Something that blows me away having grown up around Monterey is that the actual local, native style, Monterey Architecture, was *never* utilized. It would be so much more interesting than the boring 60's ranch houses around the area.
Chris Broome@mtsw To me the most American home will always be the split foyer, but that shows my age.
Ashton@mtsw this one is a joke. That’s groverhaus, the horrible expansion created by an area idiot on the something awful forum.
Alon@mtsw I mean, the most significant critic of modern architecture on the online left, @mcmansionhell, specialized in putting down exactly this kind of bullshit, likes brutalist architecture, and has held off on mocking fugly condos.
Another Lurker@mtsw Not entirely sure which of the Ben-and-Jerry's many flavors of neotraditionalism you're critiquing, but it's worth pointing out the New Urbanist neotraditionalists were some of the first to identify the main problems in America's land-use approach that YIMBYism explicitly addresses (e.g. parking requirements, single-family zoning, etc)
@mtsw There's a reason why I call these "mall churches" because they look like small indoor malls. They rank up there with strip mall and arena churches.
Data Sadist@mtsw and a church like this is indicative of what the religion is like. You're not in awe of God, you're not there to quietly genuflect and contemplate. It is a "make the numbers go up" attitude; comodifying yourself and joining a mob.
Mark Hogan@mtsw hey I did my M Arch thesis project about megachurches and I wrote about them in an architectural journal called Manifest a few years ago. The title was “God is in the Lack of Details”
Dreaming of dad jazz.@Markasaurus @mtsw This is so good Mark.
@SelectStarMan @michaelcoyote @mtsw it's not published online, you can order a copy here https://www.manifestproject.org/issue-2-1
Yossarianxxi (Jibbles)@mtsw It makes me really uncomfortable that I really agree aesthetically That I like traditional architecture a lot more than brutalism
But Art Deco could make a major comeback and I wouldn't mind at all.
@Yossarianxxi @mtsw 3d printing and even generative ai could really bring down the cost too