I like the terriblerealestateagentphotos.com post from earlier, but this feels like a parody of that. So far all of these places i'd be besides myself to be living in.
McMansion Hell
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Re: McMansion Hell
#12I like the terriblerealestateagentphotos.com post from earlier, but this feels like a parody of that. So far all of these places i'd be besides myself to be living in.
> all of these places i'd be besides myself to be living in
I think that’s the problem. All these places look purpose built to project wealth and abundance, but they don’t look nice to actually use. None of those rooms feel very welcoming or even remotely practical.
And somehow even the largest rooms manage to feel cramped because there’s too much going on. You just can’t feel at ease in a place like that. Or at least I can’t.
If you ever visit Hearst Castle it’s got a very similar vibe. Some of those rooms take 5min to walk across, but when you’re just standing there looking around, it feels cramped and tiny because the walls and floors are so full of … stuff … that it feels almost oppressive.
Re: McMansion Hell
#13I like the terriblerealestateagentphotos.com post from earlier, but this feels like a parody of that. So far all of these places i'd be besides myself to be living in.
> all of these places i'd be besides myself to be living in I think that’s the problem. All these places look purpose built to project wealth and abundance, but they don’t look nice to actually use. None of those rooms feel very welcoming or even remotely practical. And somehow even the largest rooms manage to feel cramped because there’s too much going on. You just can’t feel at ease in a place like that. Or at leas…
For when you have money but no taste. Or modesty perhaps
Re: McMansion Hell
#14I 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.
McMansion is more than square footage, they are also a hodgepodge of impractical design features. Counterstops made of a material that stains, so many glass fixtures that keeping them dusted is somebody's entire job, weird roof shapes with so many seams that water ingress is a certainty, seemingly zero optimization for the sun since the owner can surely afford to brute force their hvac, etc.
American Farmhouse and Ranch House will never be out of style and are wonderfully practical to own and maintain.
Re: McMansion Hell
#15Probably a bunch of folks have not read Alexander's A Pattern Language:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Pattern_Language
I'm guessing most of the design elements were the clients' choices and not the architects' (or any architect or interior designer with some semblance of good taste).
Re: McMansion Hell
#16I like the terriblerealestateagentphotos.com post from earlier, but this feels like a parody of that. So far all of these places i'd be besides myself to be living in.
> all of these places i'd be besides myself to be living in I think that’s the problem. All these places look purpose built to project wealth and abundance, but they don’t look nice to actually use. None of those rooms feel very welcoming or even remotely practical. And somehow even the largest rooms manage to feel cramped because there’s too much going on. You just can’t feel at ease in a place like that. Or at leas…
How many rooms can a person possibly use? At a certain point, the only purpose of the rooms is to project wealth and abundance.
Re: McMansion Hell
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
> all of these places i'd be besides myself to be living in I think that’s the problem. All these places look purpose built to project wealth and abundance, but they don’t look nice to actually use. None of those rooms feel very welcoming or even remotely practical. And somehow even the largest rooms manage to feel cramped because there’s too much going on. You just can’t feel at ease in a place like that. Or at leas…
For when you have money but no taste. Or modesty perhaps
It's the Keynesian beauty contest - if the exterior or the layout conformed to someone's taste or use case the seller will exclude the group with different tastes. So the outcome is a mishmash that appeals badly to everyone.
It's no accident that so many supermodels are from Brazil - the nation is a true melting pot of races, it attracted immigrants from everywhere. If you need a clotheshorse you go to rural Rio Grande do Sul and look for "generic white".
Re: McMansion Hell
#18Probably a bunch of folks have not read Alexander's A Pattern Language : * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Pattern_Language I'm guessing most of the design elements were the clients' choices and not the architects' (or any architect or interior designer with some semblance of good taste).
These kinds of houses tend to be mass produced, often cheaply, which flies in the face of the luxury and casual wealth they’re meant to evince in the onlooker. Architects aren’t anywhere to be seen in the process.
Re: McMansion Hell
#19I like the terriblerealestateagentphotos.com post from earlier, but this feels like a parody of that. So far all of these places i'd be besides myself to be living in.
> all of these places i'd be besides myself to be living in I think that’s the problem. All these places look purpose built to project wealth and abundance, but they don’t look nice to actually use. None of those rooms feel very welcoming or even remotely practical. And somehow even the largest rooms manage to feel cramped because there’s too much going on. You just can’t feel at ease in a place like that. Or at leas…
I felt the same way when I took a tour of Allerton House [0]. From the outside, it's quite imposing, yet the interior didn't seem spacious at all.
Re: McMansion Hell
#20I think this is the architects idea of McMansion hell.
My idea of McMansion hell is how closely they build them together AND the placement of them.
For example, many of the big communities built here in Central Florida have your living room facing the ACs of your neighbors unit, and your living room windows facing into their bed room windows.
If your homes are less than 8ft apart, JUST BUILD TOWN HOMES...