Why You Hate Contemporary Architecture

Rianna Rennix & Nathan J. Robinson, thank you from the bottom of my politically-incorrect heart. This essay expresses exactly how I feel about post-war architecture. Absolutely brilliant.

I lived and worked in Silicon Valley for around 22 years. The climate is undeniably very pleasant, but the architecture is strictly industrial-park modern. Almost no imagination or beauty, only vast expanses of ugly office parks and tract housing.

This is how i judge whether a building is ugly or not;

If you laid down a sleeping bag and slept outside it, would you feel like your sleeping under the stars, or are you a homeless bum?

Also CAD defiantly effects the design, if your drew a square box by hand you'd feel lazy, with CAD its sophistication.

The writers struggle with whether beauty is objective or subjective. I think beauty is objective but hard to explain. Paul Graham approaches it here, http://www.paulgraham.com/taste.html

This is a great piece of polemic.