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The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films

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Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films

#11

Post by Declanomous »

arcanus wrote: post #7

Honest statement: maybe its because I'm a child of the 80s, and so grew up around media with strong dystopian/cyberpunk styling... But I've always wondered why more tech companies and corporations don't embrace this aesthetic. The buildings are so distinctive and striking that it would result in very strong branding. And while motivated by questionable ethics, we do associate megacorps in fiction with bleeding edge t…

> It is not as if anyone takes the Google happy colors and 'don't be evil' motto as actually indicative of ethical behavior

I ordered a Google Home for my dad for Christmas. It's ridiculous the only color available is white. I'm sure they are trying to avoid the 1984/2001 aesthetic by making it look as cuddly as possible, but they are just trading that for a Brave New World/I, Robot aesthetic. On top of that, it really does look like an air freshener.

I was up in the air between a Google Home and an Echo Dot for him, and the color alone would have been enough to sway me to the Dot, but I ordered just a few minutes too late for it to arrive by Christmas. I mean, that white is going to look absolutely awful in such a short time because they put capacitive controls under it. Have you ever seen the palm rests of the White Macbooks? They look like pit stains on the favorite undershirt of a very sweaty man.

I wish Google would stop copying the "look at me" aesthetic of Apple. I like where Amazon was going with the Dot. It looks nice enough that nobody is going to complain if they see it, but it blends in well enough that you probably won't see it unless you look for it. Google products aren't the cheapest things, but they don't "waste" enough money on design elements for them to actually stand up as aesthetic objects like Apple products do.

Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films

#12

Post by DrPhish »

vtange wrote: post #4

Back in my days of architecture school we threw around terms such as "human scale" and "typology" in classes. The article demonstrates well the idea of "typology" - how we came to associate Brutalist structures with FBI-style surveillance states. Did you know we also associate stuff like Greek Columns with government in general? The "human scale" term refers to how a building's shape and texture should be broken up t…

If you're interested in a good overview of Architecture in the context of period art/philosophy (and culture in general), it would be hard to recommend Kenneth Clark's Civilisation [0] series more. It shows the development of architecture through the ages in context, and he has extremely interesting and insightful views on what that says about the human condition of the people living at the time.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilisation_(TV_series)

Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films

#13

Post by stcredzero »

arcanus wrote: post #7

Honest statement: maybe its because I'm a child of the 80s, and so grew up around media with strong dystopian/cyberpunk styling... But I've always wondered why more tech companies and corporations don't embrace this aesthetic. The buildings are so distinctive and striking that it would result in very strong branding. And while motivated by questionable ethics, we do associate megacorps in fiction with bleeding edge t…

It is not as if anyone takes the Google happy colors and 'don't be evil' motto as actually indicative of ethical behavior.

How about, "Evil, it's what we do!" Followed by, "Shush, you're just jealous!"

Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films

#14

Post by vtange »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #10
vtange wrote: post #4

Back in my days of architecture school we threw around terms such as "human scale" and "typology" in classes. The article demonstrates well the idea of "typology" - how we came to associate Brutalist structures with FBI-style surveillance states. Did you know we also associate stuff like Greek Columns with government in general? The "human scale" term refers to how a building's shape and texture should be broken up t…

Out of curiosity, how do you think the SIS building in London fits in architecturally? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIS_Building

This building is less brutalist and more postmodern - notice how it has a less obvious shape (it's not just a tower or a big rectangle or anything) and is instead made up by many different shapes. Postmodernism actually tried to remedy some of the downsides of modernism/brutalism by trying out mixtures of forms and textures.

The SIS still suffers from a limited material palette and needs further break-up to reach the human scale. Especially at the ground level - imagine standing next to that building - it would feel like standing beside a huge wall!

Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films

#15

Post by PavlovsCat »

arcanus wrote: post #7

Honest statement: maybe its because I'm a child of the 80s, and so grew up around media with strong dystopian/cyberpunk styling... But I've always wondered why more tech companies and corporations don't embrace this aesthetic. The buildings are so distinctive and striking that it would result in very strong branding. And while motivated by questionable ethics, we do associate megacorps in fiction with bleeding edge t…

> It is not as if anyone takes the Google happy colors and 'don't be evil' motto as actually indicative of ethical behavior.

It's also not as if the sterility that was some kind of "opposite"? For me it's certainly closer to a factory floor than to, say, Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

> Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

-- E. F. Schumacher [ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106019678082;vi... ]

Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films

#16

Post by reneherse »

arcanus wrote: post #7

Honest statement: maybe its because I'm a child of the 80s, and so grew up around media with strong dystopian/cyberpunk styling... But I've always wondered why more tech companies and corporations don't embrace this aesthetic. The buildings are so distinctive and striking that it would result in very strong branding. And while motivated by questionable ethics, we do associate megacorps in fiction with bleeding edge t…

It may be that the monolithic edifices that typify so many favorite dystopian worlds don't lend themselves to scaling up or down as an organization grows or contracts.

Perhaps only organizations that are immune to market vagaries can handle an architecture that does not respond easily to growth/change. Also, many prefer to lease rather than own, and real estate developers are almost universally conservative and conventional, thus unlikely to underwrite the costs of aesthetically significant architecture.

(In my experience it costs at least twice as much to construct things in a way that is outside standard convention.)

A mixed example, Apple's new campus is a more friendly-faced monolith, but will be difficult to expand without breaking the trademark purity of its circular geometry. (An aside, at least as shown in photos, that building puts my creative mind to sleep and carries a message of conformity, like any monoculture gone to far.)

Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films

#17

Post by WalterBright »

arcanus wrote: post #7

Honest statement: maybe its because I'm a child of the 80s, and so grew up around media with strong dystopian/cyberpunk styling... But I've always wondered why more tech companies and corporations don't embrace this aesthetic. The buildings are so distinctive and striking that it would result in very strong branding. And while motivated by questionable ethics, we do associate megacorps in fiction with bleeding edge t…

My dad, who was a historian and business professor, told me once that you could trace the start of the decline of a company when they completed their showcase palace headquarters. The problem is they became focused on the edifice rather than their business.

Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films

#19

Post by Kalium »

Declanomous wrote: post #11
arcanus wrote: post #7

Honest statement: maybe its because I'm a child of the 80s, and so grew up around media with strong dystopian/cyberpunk styling... But I've always wondered why more tech companies and corporations don't embrace this aesthetic. The buildings are so distinctive and striking that it would result in very strong branding. And while motivated by questionable ethics, we do associate megacorps in fiction with bleeding edge t…

> It is not as if anyone takes the Google happy colors and 'don't be evil' motto as actually indicative of ethical behavior I ordered a Google Home for my dad for Christmas. It's ridiculous the only color available is white. I'm sure they are trying to avoid the 1984 / 2001 aesthetic by making it look as cuddly as possible, but they are just trading that for a Brave New World / I, Robot aesthetic. On top of that, it…

https://store.google.com/product/google_home_base

What do you mean by only color available being white?

Re: The Architecture of Evil: Dystopian Megacorps in Speculative Fiction Films

#20

Post by Finnucane »

vtange wrote: post #4

Back in my days of architecture school we threw around terms such as "human scale" and "typology" in classes. The article demonstrates well the idea of "typology" - how we came to associate Brutalist structures with FBI-style surveillance states. Did you know we also associate stuff like Greek Columns with government in general? The "human scale" term refers to how a building's shape and texture should be broken up t…

That's funny, in the context of American buildings, the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Greek columns in Georgian mansions. Only after that do I think of perhaps courthouses.

Here in Boston, the brutalist monstrosity that is our city hall has its Soviet oppressiveness enhanced by the pillbox-laden concrete wasteland that surrounds it. It really is a monument to government power.

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