McMansion Hell

#1

Post by fzeindl » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 1:41 PM UTC

Re: McMansion Hell

#2

Post by rsynnott » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 2:08 PM UTC

There’s an interesting series of posts (which the author seems to have abandoned at some point, sadly) following the evolution of these monstrosities, with an example for each year since 1970 or so.

Re: McMansion Hell

#3

Post by thirdmunky » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 2:16 PM UTC

When I was in high school and planning to study architecture, I came across this blog. I'm glad the author is still here and putting out high-quality pieces after all this time.

The author, Kate Wagner, also writes more serious pieces on architecture and housing for The Nation. I recommend taking a look!

https://www.thenation.com/authors/kate-wagner/ (warning: paywall after a few articles)

Re: McMansion Hell

#4

Post by tiahura » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 2:17 PM UTC

The envy is palpable.

Re: McMansion Hell

#5

Post by mattficke » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 2:21 PM UTC

Kate Wagner, the author, is also an excellent sports journalist who covers cycling. A recent piece on Tadej Pogačar and Slovenian cycling: https://escapecollective.com/the-tadej-pogacar-office-park-c...

Re: McMansion Hell

#6

Post by l33tbro » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 2:23 PM UTC

> Trying to visualize the floor plan of this house is like trying to rotate seven cubes individually in my mind’s eye

So many gems on this site.

Re: McMansion Hell

#7

Post by martythemaniak » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 2:24 PM UTC

Great blog, I did learn quite a bit from it and also the book she recommends - A Field Guide to American Houses by Virginia McAlester.

We usually refer to any newish suburban house as a McMansion, but that's wrong. Cookie-cutter maybe, but not McMansion. The defining feature of McMansions is "more is more" mindset, a very large house with a thoughtless mishmash of styles, features, textures, colours, and shapes. Most suburban houses are not large enough nor eclectic enough to be called a proper McMansion. My random suburban house for example, has a needlessly large number of rooflines, but is generally coherent and shapely.

Re: McMansion Hell

#8

Post by avidphantasm » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 2:24 PM UTC

I remember seeing commentary like this a few years ago. Looking at this today in the post-generative ML world, I realize that the pictures of these houses look like what such a system would produce as output.

Re: McMansion Hell

#9

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 2:26 PM UTC

I bet a decent number of those homes are cheaper than a 1200 square foot home built in the 1960’s in Cupertino and Mountain View.

Despite their issues, I would also bet that the McMansions are much nicer to live in and raise a family in.

Re: McMansion Hell

#10

Post by NotYourLawyer » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 2:26 PM UTC

tiahura wrote: post #4

The envy is palpable.

So envious of bad architecture.