Here's one in Leavenworth, WA, a town where they have a Bavarian themed design requirements.
https://goo.gl/maps/LaCgUjQLbMX3nGuv5
The McDonalds is a bit subdued, the Starbucks is perhaps a better example.
The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
21–30 of 56 posts
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There are so many examples of this sort of thing. I am frustrated by the ease with which buildings are declared historical sites and how often that designation happens after somebody The flip side of this is that developers don’t have a good record. Cheap, badly done developments and a history of buying, then revealing their true plans. “Oh, it turned out to be structurally unstable, so we have to demolish”.
Most new development in the US look terrible indeed. I’d rather get overprotection than those buildings everywhere in my city.
I guess you like high rents then?
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#23The McDonalds (and other chain retail stores) have subdued colors and design in central Kyoto. They are most frequently brown/black based.
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Honest question: why do you think that the older buildings didn't "maximize profit" for their creators?
Here, have a look at a representative sample of images: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=new+orleans+french+quarter&bext=ms... Just look at any of those wrought iron railings. From a purely functional viewpoint they could do their job of being a railing to stop you from falling off the balcony with a series of plain vertical bars. But they are these elaborate concoctions of decoration and detail that someone had to cast, be…
One of the supposed reasons for this is the relation between labour and product prices.
Before WW2, labour was far cheaper then materials, especially in Europe.
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#25The McDonalds (and other chain retail stores) have subdued colors and design in central Kyoto. They are most frequently brown/black based. https://news.mynavi.jp/article/20130903-a075/
The McDonald's stores in the States seem to be heading in that direction as well. Here's a random example from Google Images:
https://westernnews.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/photo...
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#26Here's one in Leavenworth, WA, a town where they have a Bavarian themed design requirements. https://goo.gl/maps/LaCgUjQLbMX3nGuv5 The McDonalds is a bit subdued, the Starbucks is perhaps a better example. https://goo.gl/maps/nFemv8G1n7toUa4h6
Here's one from Regensburg (Bavaria), AFAIK a compromise between the city (they wanted no modern branding at all) and McDonalds.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/McDonald...
"At the golden M"
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not the GP, but I think that the optimizations that lead each locality to have a distinct look came from local minima and maxima (e.g. availability of building materials, local construction practices, function of the building, desire to please the local population, as well as profit maximization), while the average McDonald's, as a for-instance of corporate design, comes from much more global minima and maxima. It's…
Right, the iconic look of the buildings in Paris is entirely a result of a regulatory loophole on building height and the Parisians “maximizing profit” in that environment.
They were built up to the maximum number of storeys and plot dimensions and extracted higher rents than the medieval streets they replaced, but the look is mostly because of the enforcement of building codes that controlled down to minutae like enforcing alignment of balconies. Which was ultimately the product of a vision which prioritised visual impressiveness over economics
(the prioritising appearance over economics applies to Parisian buildings built prior to Parisian building codes too, though obviously there's a lot of survivor bias there)
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here, have a look at a representative sample of images: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=new+orleans+french+quarter&bext=ms... Just look at any of those wrought iron railings. From a purely functional viewpoint they could do their job of being a railing to stop you from falling off the balcony with a series of plain vertical bars. But they are these elaborate concoctions of decoration and detail that someone had to cast, be…
One of the supposed reasons for this is the relation between labour and product prices. Before WW2, labour was far cheaper then materials, especially in Europe.
Thanks for making this point. Beat me to it.
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not the GP, but I think that the optimizations that lead each locality to have a distinct look came from local minima and maxima (e.g. availability of building materials, local construction practices, function of the building, desire to please the local population, as well as profit maximization), while the average McDonald's, as a for-instance of corporate design, comes from much more global minima and maxima. It's…
Right, the iconic look of the buildings in Paris is entirely a result of a regulatory loophole on building height and the Parisians “maximizing profit” in that environment.
No, it's also a result of the demand for pretty-looking stuff. Some people, for example, appreciate the aesthetics of apple products (though I'm not as much a fan) and will pay extra. Many will buy a fancier home for more than the size. Others buy cars which are outrageously expensive, less reliable, and some times (depending on the brand) less comfortable than others. These act as status symbols and are aesthetically pleasing. Those who build and sell them are maximizing profit, because they believe there to be a market for such items.
In fairness to your point, there are craftsmen and artisans who insist on doing things a certain way. That said, they usually have buyers for their products. Those buildings stand today because some one wants them there, are usually quite valuable, and have been re-sold numerous times.
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#30There are so many examples of this sort of thing. I am frustrated by the ease with which buildings are declared historical sites and how often that designation happens after somebody buys a piece of property to develop it. I think it would be far fairer to the purchaser (and the seller, who makes out like a bandit unfairly) to mandate a 90 day stay when a large parcel is sold to allow for filing of historical paperwo…
It really depends on the local laws for declaring historic districts. Much of the time it can be a long process, with lots of community meetings, revisions, etc. (On the national level, you need the property owner's consent to get listed on the on the National Register of Historic Places.) I imagine in some cases the process has already started and the new owner might not know about it, especially if you are talking about short periods of 90 days. And if a community is united against their area being listed, it can fail. But, again, it all depends on the local situation, and if a majority living there want things to go one way, then a lone owner can be screwed out of doing what they wanted.