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Architecture hasn't been good since WW2. In the 60s and 70s we had concrete blocks erected everywhere which all look depressing, sterile and lacks soul. The architecture nowadays isn't that much of an improvement. We've just replaced concrete with glass and steel and it still looks sterile and soul-less to me.
I agree. You look at the cathedrals and and other architectural marvels in Europe, you can't help but see what is lacking in North America. Both aesthetically and economically it makes sense to be creative with building projects. That is the main tourist draw over there.
From a Brit, I do appreciate some of the Georgian, Victorian and early 20th Century era American architecture. I think you have some beautiful buildings in New York and the other "old" cities in the East.
That said, what America lacks in architecture, it makes up for in beautiful landscapes, scenery and lovely hearty country 😄 Especially in the West and in New England. I have to see the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park one day 😊
The Grand Canyon is amazing. Take the trail tour if you have no fear of heights, falling, or ornery donkeys with minds of their own.
Picking an easy one New York has some of the most iconic & famous structures in the world. The Chrysler building (my favourite), The Flat Iron building, The Empire State building & of course Lady Liberty herself.
They have a 700+ year advantage on the USA, but there is amazing architecture to be found in N. America. You just have to realize it’s not going to be castles, but it could be a log cabin - wood that was cut and shaped by hand 200+ years ago and still standing.
No doubt Europe has the advantage of time over North America. You have structures that took hundreds of years to complete. And I definitely have an appreciation for craftsmanship. I just think we do a lot of cookie cutter building. Of course it's about the economics of it all and it's hard to argue with that. I just think a lot of the new developments look blah. Even going through the million dollar areas. They're nice for sure but all kind of the same.
I agree with you there. Cookie cutter became prominent after WW2 with the building boom to house returning troops. Builders realized it’s a cheaper way to build. Still, there is good architecture to be found in older cities across the country, buildings from 1690s-1700s amid apartment buildings and skyscrapers. A small town I lived in was established about 1680 and still had buildings from the revolution standing.
I guess I'm weird: I'm over 60, so I should be one of those old gits who whinges on about how everything - including architecture - is totally shite these days, and how everything was wonderful back in the good old days. In fact, I think some pre-WWII buildings are total crap, and some modern stuff is amazing.
I've never liked Brutalist architecture (which is what I assume you mean by the reference to concrete slabs), but mainly because of the material used. Some of the forms of those buildings are interesting, but they look like crap largely because concrete simply does not weather well.
I live in Britain, and there's a fetish for preserving old buildings, no matter how rubbish or mundane they may be, and a lot of them are.
And, of course, a lot of modern buildings are rubbish.
The most amusing architecture story I've read recently is about Apple's new HQ. I haven't seen pictures, but apparently it consists of a lot of glass, and not just any sort of glass. It's a special, ultra-clear glass.
Internal doorways don't have any sort of surround, and there's no indication on the floor of where doors are. Apparently, this would ruin the architect's and corporation's grand vision of a crystal cathedral dedicated to greed, technology, and planned obsolescence.
The result is that ambulances have had to be called multiple times since this wonder of corporate self-aggrandisement opened, because employees - who believe they are heading through an opening - instead walk full-tilt into a very solid glass wall that they can't see.
Some employees took to sticking post-it's or other things on the walls next to doorways to indicate where the glass ended, but the management insisted they take them down and told them that doing this again would result in disciplinary action.
In some ways, I'm not at all unhappy to hear about people who are deluded enough to work for Apple suffering for their idiocy, but that is pretty much a definition of crap architecture: a building unsuited to actually be used by people.
I don't understand the obsession with glass nowadays. Why does everything have to be glass?
Who knows? Fashion, I guess. It's sort of the diametric opposite to the concrete slab fashion, isn't it?
I wouldn't be surprised if it's also driven by technological advances in glass manufacture. Architects are always wanting to produce something new and novel, so if a glass manufacturer announces in the trade press that they can make a glass that's as clear as air, some architect is going to figure out a way to do something with it.
It's true, most older buildings are brick or stone rather than steel like modern buildings. The older buildings do have more personality and a more classic touch. With houses though in many U.S. cities, I'm sure how many people have noticed that houses in old neighborhoods are made of brick, and houses in more modern neighborhoods are made of wood. Out in more rural areas though, houses were made out of wood 100 years ago and still are.
I've been to hundreds of damaged properties for my business, and, with a few exceptions, would agree with this in general. Most are boring, cookie-cutter, and uninteresting, especially those 80's style mansions (have been to a few), that are just boxes placed in different directions.
Best, though, was home built and owned by Tennessee Williams. Wow isn't enough. I was there working for a good 10 hours, and it didn't feel like work. Just enjoyed being there. The style, original flooring and crown moulding, fireplace in every room..Place was incredible.
I actually like how the modern architecture is very impressive and fancy looking. I want to end up in a house that like someday. Google "modern house architecture" in images.
I do art, but i dont stick to modern art. I make digital art that doesnt remind me of the shitty modern art.
the louvre in paris now has a glass pyramid. it looks stupid but its the new religion of freemasonry.
Plastic houses are the solution. Yes, they suck. But they are more floor area for the money, need no maintenance, and fill soulless suburbia with soullessness for people that have no souls. Soulless diabetics, smoking marijuana, staring blankly at smart phones. This is end result of human evolution.
Modernist architecture was pretty terrible, but postmodernist design brought back a lot of the personality and warmth that was stripped away.
I think some of the newer stuff is nicer than the 50s-80s concrete blocks, but generally I prefer older stuff too. It does have more character.
I'm terrified of skyscrapers though so maybe I'm biased 😣
Do you also get dizzy when looking straight up at the top of a skyscraper, or looking straight up at the sky in general? I have before.
I get anxiety and break out in sweats just being near them. I panic and can't bear looking at them. I don't even like looking at pictures of some of them, from certain angles.
Strangely it's not a fear of heights. I'm not a nervous flier at all, and I love natural landscapes that are rugged and mountainous (I'm very much into hiking and nature walks actually). I just hate buildings.
Is it that “towering over” you feeling?
I think a lot of people experience that at least once. Probably some ancient fear wired in human DNA.
Maybe, but to me it's to an extreme degree clearly. I'll actually avoid areas of cities with tall buildings because of it.
It's life-limiting because I want to visit New York at some point 😞 I need controlled exposure until I get over it I guess.
Actually speaking of New York, I think 9/11 might have had something to do with it. I never noticed my dislike of tall buildings before that happened.
I worked in NYC then. Many people left the office that day and never returned to the city again. They just up and quit good jobs in a very good company. Entirely understandable.
The whole event changed my SO at the time. She was afraid to drive on the highways that passed airports, but she would get on a plane without issue.