Modernity is depressingly devoid of depth (article)

[Scottty]

https://jermdraws.com/blog/modernity-is-depressingly-devoid-of-depth

In a previous post I provided a thought experiment relating to Hong Kong and Singapore. Without googling it, you probably wouldn’t know the answer to my question.
Take a look at the following four cities.

Without noticeable landmarks, you probably wouldn’t know which city is which.
They’re all cold, grey, jagged concrete protrusions on the landscape, offering neither a soul nor a personality to their respective nations.
Well, they can’t.
Their populations are too massively dense.
Zoom in a little further and you’ll find millions of ant-like people on antidepressants shuffling around, constant noise and pollution, high suicide rates and alcoholism, and commercialism that is common across all four, resulting in none being unique.
It’s demoralising.
In Paris, the Tour Montparnasse looks like it’s in the wrong place. It reminds me of the opening scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Why would architects do this?

Meanwhile, in California, the Department Of Transportation is housed in the following brutal bastion of blandness.
It looks incomplete (which, I suppose, is deliberate), but it also looks creepy. Or like a Transformer (which, I suppose, could also be deliberate).

Rest of page

 

[Deleted member 88]

Modernity is the triumph of conformity of principle, individuality of the trivial.

Cultural distinctiveness ultimately is a hindrance to all powerful market. Homogenity ensures a unified market of consumers of which you can sell the same stuff too.

 

[King Krávoka]

ITT: Overly complicated ways of saying that cheapasses don't like making beautiful things.

 

[Deleted member]

Modernity is most importantly devoid of any aesthetic connection to the Divine, and therefore bankrupt of anything comforting or redemptive to the human soul. I'd say that modern cities actually help create depressed people with their modernity.

 

[Scottty]

Modernity is most importantly devoid of any aesthetic connection to the Divine, and therefore bankrupt of anything comforting or redemptive to the human soul. I'd say that modern cities actually help create depressed people with their modernity.

Unless one finds the Divine in shapes that resemble Bismuth crystals, I suppose...

But it's not just that they are making buildings that look boring and rectangular - it's as if they were going out of their way to design them to be ugly, offensive, and disturbing.

Brutalist architecture doesn't so much ignore God, as deliberately make rude gestures at Him.

Some examples:

Looks like something out of StarWars.

And then there's the stuff that looks like the people who designed it must have had tentacles on their faces...

Would you walk in that door? It looks like it might eat you!

 

[PsihoKekec]

These architectural abortions always make me think of ISU-152 and Churchill AVRE

 

[S'task]

I see this one posted frequently but I've never been sure why?

OK, it's not pretty, but unlike most brutalist projects, it's actually trying to do something interesting. Plus, when you look at the terrain around it, it's clearly built in a location more traditional construction would be challenged. Could it be done prettier? Sure, but the core of that building has a lot more going for it than most.

 

[Scottty]

I see this one posted frequently but I've never been sure why?

OK, it's not pretty, but unlike most brutalist projects, it's actually trying to do something interesting. Plus, when you look at the terrain around it, it's clearly built in a location more traditional construction would be challenged. Could it be done prettier? Sure, but the core of that building has a lot more going for it than most.

True. It's functional, and doesn't have extra non-functional add-ons just for the sake of being edgy.
Another one like it:

 

[Scottty]

And then we find WTF-esque buildings like this children's hospital in Australia:

 

[S'task]

True. It's functional, and doesn't have extra non-functional add-ons just for the sake of being edgy.
Another one like it:

Yeah, actually, there's a good point to the weird stacking structure too from an architectural aspect too: it creates breezeways. All those windows, assuming they can be opened, have direct airflow through the building. This is a critical design feature especially if there's no central air conditioning. By stacking in that manner, each of the wings has nature airflow through assuming the interior design is laid out properly. Further, by air gaping the floors the way they are, they also inhibit temperature buildup in the upper floors due to the lower floors, a common problem in apartment buildings (I live on the top floor of a multi-story apartment building, the number of times in the winter I've had to have the AIR CONDITIONER on when the temperate outside is below freezing is not insignificant due to this effect.).

Basically, while the use of concrete makes the building look harsh, the actual design of the building is highly functional and actually kind of cool. Heck, I'm betting you could even take that core basic design and make it look quite nice overall if you just changed materials and added some buttresses and swoops. Also, put doors and fences on the various roofs and turn them into a nice hybrid of roof and porch. It would actually make for some quite nice apartments if done right.