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Bad architecture and good architecture are like good software and bad software. For non-IT folks it doesn't matter once the software works, for IT folks, it matters, they can 'see' things that the others can't. With architecture is the same.

Disclaimer: I'm an architect.

edit: this is the best blog I (didn't) know explaining what makes architecture good. There is a lack of short articles on this subject. Thanks for posting this.

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Having had several visits to Italy recently, I value their sense of what is beautiful. Firstly, it feels great to be there. Secondly, the lot of them look really cool no matter what they do.

My take on this is that these McMansions are an in-between step. They look like a Picasso - and not in a good way - because they are not designed as a whole.

Once complex manual labour (most importantly: masonry) can be automated, and once one figures out how to combine a modern, relaxed lifestyle with architecture, these "mansions" will come to be seen as barbarous monstrosities.

This is the main reason why I will always stay in Europe.

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