The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
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The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
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Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#2There 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 paperwork. If that doesn't get filed or if it doesn't get granted after filing, then the property transfers at the agreed upon price. If it does get historical status, then it reverts to a much lower price or the sale is canceled.
You may be thinking "well that damn richie-rich developer can just get screwed, he wanted to destroy important history in my town for his evil profit." I am thinking about the guy who just wanted to live in a nice house walking distance from downtown, so he bought just outside a historical district to avoid all the paperwork, intending to replace a dilapidated house constructed poorly in 1920, only to find that the historical preservation committee extended the boundaries right after his sale went through. Or, in the alternative, the recent news out of Denver where they attempted and ultimately failed to designate a chain diner as "historic" when the owner wanted to sell the place and retire. Using regulatory power to stop the guy from getting his expected retirement payout when he's done being a restaurant manager is unreasonably heavy handed, in my opinion.
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#3Personally I find that going into a standard cookie-cutter instance of a franchise is depressing; they're usually built with pleasing aesthetics low on the list of priorities, far below "cheap", "easy to hose down", and "does not encourage customers lingering". Going into one that's been shaped by a place with an aesthetic agenda results in something that's got a few surprises, and has design flourishes that exist solely to please the eye.
But what do I know, I grew up in the second city in the US to ever establish a Historic Preservation District and had my tastes shaped by lots of architecture from a time when "maximizing profit" wasn't the only thing ever considered in building.
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#4Personally I find that going into a standard cookie-cutter instance of a franchise is depressing; they're usually built with pleasing aesthetics low on the list of priorities, far below "cheap", "easy to hose down", and "does not encourage customers lingering". Going into one that's been shaped by a place with an aesthetic agenda results in something that's got a few surprises, and has design flourishes that exist so…
Honest question: why do you think that the older buildings didn't "maximize profit" for their creators?
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#5> Locals seem to be content with all four developments
If the locals like it, and they're the ones who are going to be using it and looking at it all the time, then frankly who cares what the "reception online" is?
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#6The zoning board missed the opportunity to force turquoise paint on the drive-thru. Yellow just completely ruins the local character.
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#7Personally I find that going into a standard cookie-cutter instance of a franchise is depressing; they're usually built with pleasing aesthetics low on the list of priorities, far below "cheap", "easy to hose down", and "does not encourage customers lingering". Going into one that's been shaped by a place with an aesthetic agenda results in something that's got a few surprises, and has design flourishes that exist so…
Honest question: why do you think that the older buildings didn't "maximize profit" for their creators?
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 not that the builders of older buildings didn't consider profit, it's that they didn't have Excel-wielding MBA's optimizing a global supply chain to control every aspect of the average building's construction.
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#8> One can’t help but wonder, was it worth all the fuss to save a mansion that sells McDoubles and McFlurrys—a McMansion, if you will? Are teal Golden Arches really strengthening the heritage of the Southwest? Are faux Greek Revival columns at the drive-thru window really changing perceptions about the quality of a humdrum suburb? At the same time that we likely overestimate the placemaking powers of preserving and designing by committee, perhaps there’s underappreciated wisdom in just letting a McDonald’s be a McDonald’s.
Isn't there also an underappreciated wisdom in just not letting there be a McDonald's in your community?
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#9Personally I find that going into a standard cookie-cutter instance of a franchise is depressing; they're usually built with pleasing aesthetics low on the list of priorities, far below "cheap", "easy to hose down", and "does not encourage customers lingering". Going into one that's been shaped by a place with an aesthetic agenda results in something that's got a few surprises, and has design flourishes that exist so…
Honest question: why do you think that the older buildings didn't "maximize profit" for their creators?
> [...] architecture from a time when "maximizing profit" wasn't the only thing ever considered in building.
> why do you think that the older buildings didn't "maximize profit" for their creators?
"Maximizing profit" was not the only thing considered and maximizing profit should never be the only thing considered. The idea that maximizing profit is the most important thing or the only thing is a radioactive idea that is poisoning western civilization.
Re: The Urban Planning Behind America’s Weirdest McDonald’s
#10> Locals seem to be content with all four developments If the locals like it, and they're the ones who are going to be using it and looking at it all the time, then frankly who cares what the "reception online" is?
McDonald's, among others.