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When is the revolution in architecture coming?

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Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#181

Post by coffeemig »

Oddskar wrote: post #158
ollifi wrote: post #117

I find it amazing that most commenters find nothing good in contemporary architecture but at the same time seem to believe that if only somebody did the right thing things would be better. I think it is pretty obvious that there are hard constraints at play here. If it would be possible to do different kind of new buildings, somebody in the world surely would be doing them. It’s really hard to find anyone who doesn’t…

People do occasionally order buildings to be done in an older style that most enjoy. You know what happens afterwards? The architect involved gets ostracised. It’s “grotesque” apparently. The problem is absolutely the architects and their profession. They are no longer producing buildings that people enjoy but rather caters to their own perverted aesthetical sense of pride.

How do we get a government referendum on aesthetics?

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#182

Post by coffeemig »

galfarragem wrote: post #137
batushka3 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well actualy it is. In my own wery oldtown, there is a piece of palace remaining next to parking lot. All the submitions were nothing of rebuild, although plenty of historical data. Only glass, concrete and boxy shapes. Something is broken with architects in general.

It's complex. Imagine you inherit a COBOL codebase, would you expand it further or would you try to add a functional microservice in the language of the day? Ok, you can say: the codebase is not COBOL, is C and is beautifully done. However all architects studied Art History and Aesthetics, so, at least, they have a more informed opinion on what defines a good codebase than a layman. Probably we could give them the be…

I’m not in architecture, but I am a painter and I took university courses on it (my degree is in advertising, but I was good enough at drawing that the art profs let me run with the seniors in a couple upper level classes).

They are not teaching aesthetics any more. They threw away the casts and teach ‘concept’. Students aren’t taught how to approach Michelangelo’s David, they’re taught how to approach Duchamp’s fountain. I heard a professor espouse that Twombly was some enormous departure from Pollock, an artistic revolution as great a distance as Picasso from Velasquez.

Twombly: https://www.google.com/search?q=cy+twombly&client=safari&hl=...

Pollock: https://www.google.com/search?q=jackson+pollock&client=safar...

The emperor has no clothes.

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#183

Post by coffeemig »

cyberpsybin wrote: post #72
Grakel wrote: post #2

This misses a big point: highly skilled craftsmanship will never again be affordable on an architectural scale. So we'll have it again when it can all be done by machine. It costs human lives to build a Notre Dame, both in deaths and in total lifespan output, and as for Sagrada Familia it's still not complete. We now value human life and labor too much to be able to afford it. I personally can't wait to have detailed…

This is so wrong. We don't need slavery to run cotton fields. We can build Notre Dame without killing people.

I’m just replying to boost your sentiment. Absolutely true.

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#184

Post by coffeemig »

renlo wrote: post #157

the buildings one sees today are the ones that "survived" because they were notable. Older buildings are going to be more interesting as a matter of course because the boring ones were torn down to build other buildings.

I live near Detroit and have seen before/after photos. Good on you for speculating the role of survivorship bias, but evidence that you are just plain wrong exists. One example off the top of my head: https://www.birminghammichiganbank.com/birmingham-national-b...

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#185

Post by forgotmypw17 »

RNCTX wrote: post #77
Grakel wrote: post #2

This misses a big point: highly skilled craftsmanship will never again be affordable on an architectural scale. So we'll have it again when it can all be done by machine. It costs human lives to build a Notre Dame, both in deaths and in total lifespan output, and as for Sagrada Familia it's still not complete. We now value human life and labor too much to be able to afford it. I personally can't wait to have detailed…

> This misses a big point: highly skilled craftsmanship will never again be affordable on an architectural scale. So we'll have it again when it can all be done by machine. That's not really the case. As with the internet and software, architecture was hijacked by building products corporations and tradespeople were duped into playing along, just like the employees of social media corporations one can see on this sit…

> there were lots of small machines built for the market of a small custom shop that might build things for local clientele. They have all been replaced by worse (in every respect) multi-function machines that only make boring things badly.

It's funny how similar this sounds to the framework situation in software development.

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#187

Post by poulsbohemian »

I knew exactly where the author was headed just from the headline, let alone before I saw their first examples, as I've written this same article in my mind a hundred time. I'd go for functional even above beautiful. I walk into so many houses - new, old, whatever - and so few have ever considered that there will be people living in them. Rooms with odd dimensions. Houses facing the wrong direction. Bedrooms where there's no place to actually put a bed. Rooms that can't decide if they are for sleeping, working, lounging, or simply gratuitous square footage. Houses that utterly consume their entire allotment of land, having apparently never read that other great study in architecture, The King of Cauliflower's Castle (Sesame Street books, 1975). I'm not convinced architects are to blame. Yes, as this article points out when it comes to public buildings and spaces, the architects have lost their minds. When it comes to residences though, I'm inclined to think it's a triumvirate of the lack of architecture, builders playing architect, and a public that is generally devoid of good taste, all under the thumb of the ever rising cost of labor and materials. Cover it up with granite and stainless steel and call it a day.

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#188

Post by telotortium »

nitrogen wrote: post #55
barry-cotter wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We know about (and don’t knock down) the particularly beautiful older buildings. We have lots of evidence from paintings and photographs that it's not just survivorship bias, that things have gotten on average uglier. > If you go to New York City there’s beautiful stuff from the early 20th century (think Chrysler Building) and plenty of unremarkable stuff still standing (think pre-war walk ups). Still more aestheti…

We have lots of evidence from paintings and photographs that it's not just survivorship bias, that things have gotten on average uglier. There's definitely a bias at play here, whatever name you give to it. Maybe a bias toward familiarity, where the longer something has been around, the more people decide they like it. I look forward to the day when I can build my perfect glass and stone paradise and finally escape t…

Where are you that's designed for people less than 5 feet tall? Generally it's the older buildings that tend to have higher ceilings - until very recently, most post-war buildings were built with 8-foot ceilings or even shorter.

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#189

Post by kakwa_ »

d--b wrote: post #35

So. Fucking. True. The state of architecture is a disaster. Ever since Adolf Loos wrote “ornament is crime”, architects have booed anything decorative. We get textures, sure. Oh boy do we get textures. We get all the woods, all the stones, all the 3d printed concrete. Sculpture? Hell, no… And no it’s not that expensive. When you build 234 park avenue, every apartment sells for $10m. maybe there is some of it that can…

It really makes me think of "The Irony of Fate" intro:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHdFd2RKRSI

This is the intro of a Soviet Christmas romantic comedy, with the premise that the main protagonist, quite drunk, gets into a taxi, gives the address of is home, gets there, unlocks the door with his key and go to bed, only to realize a bit later that something was wrong when an unknown woman enters... Everything was identical to his apartment (street name, number, building, keys, etc)... except he is in Leningrad and not in Moscow.

Re: When is the revolution in architecture coming?

#190

Post by Oddskar »

coffeemig wrote: post #181
Oddskar wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People do occasionally order buildings to be done in an older style that most enjoy. You know what happens afterwards? The architect involved gets ostracised. It’s “grotesque” apparently. The problem is absolutely the architects and their profession. They are no longer producing buildings that people enjoy but rather caters to their own perverted aesthetical sense of pride.

How do we get a government referendum on aesthetics?

Why would you need one? Do we need referendums in software for usability?

No, we do not. We test with users and accommodate their needs and wants. That architects have strayed away from this is crazy.

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