@Jennifer Hogan

"It became quite clear to me that the elite who bankroll the politicians own most of the media outlets and control the narrative. We hear exactly what they want us to hear."

Exactly!

Stay tuned for the next propaganda push from Rupert Murdoch, who claims to be tired of you-know-who on the national scene.

TV and radio Journalism died when broadcasters discovered that advertisers will pay to sponsor 'the news'. This came about during the early days of CNN. In the past 'the news' was a loss leader, a few minutes that broadcasters were required to provide to hold a license. Immediately 'news' was stretched to create more hours to be sold to sponsors. There's still only about 5 minutes of hard news per hour. The rest is entertainment.

Print media is the last resort, where it can survive, given a public that doesn't *read*.

My main complaint is the inefficiency of houses. If they were better designed people could live more comfortably in smaller spaces.

My main complaint is the inefficiency of houses. If they were better designed people could live more comfortably in smaller spaces.

Agree. The problem is, it's difficult if not impossible to design *well* without knowing exactly *who* will be living there, and what they need.

Even if tract/production homes employed talented, licensed architects/designers, I doubt I would find something that would work really well for me, because they'd still be designing for "most" people, and my family is kinda a little bit fringe, lol.

Such an important discussion!!! In my mind, it boils down to education, period. We have allowed arts to be stripped out of schools. Even preschools and elementary schools, where children should be given opportunity to explore and develop understanding of how things work, have replaced with technology that "teaches" them the "right/easy" way to do things, rather than a person who might ask probing questions, challenge imaginations, push problem-solving, etc. History is ignored, devalued...why study the classics?

Every structure we enter could be designed in a way to inspire and uplift. Sadly, schools, where those young formative minds spend the majority of their waking hours, typically aren't approached with that design criteria. I could go on and on, but won't.

Schools are designed to not offend anyone. Bland and boring and designed to be built without expensive specialty materials isn't going to inspire anyone, except perhaps inspire students to skip school. Built by the lowest builder is not a common feature of landmark buildings

My pet peeve about residential house design is that I have seen so many where the design is just a list of "must haves" that they believe that people insist on having.

Must have an island in kitchen, even thought the clearances between the island and the other counters is so tight that only one person can be in the kitchen, and the resulting space for a table only fits a 2-chair table.

Must have a walk-in closet, even though it hangs fewer clothes than a reach-in closet.

Must have a separate dining room even though it only comfortably fits a small table and no sideboard.

Wasted space at the top of the stairs, staged as an office area although there is no privacy at all for office work.

In high school I learned how to draw,

In college I learned to to how think,

In work I learned how to design,

In clients I learned priorities,

In maturity I learned to enjoy the ride.

@partim and they cram all those "features" in without much thought to the exterior, forming all those weird lumps and bumps jutting out everywhere.

Thanks for the advice.

"Thanks for the advice."

And now we wait for inevitable...............................

I think Donovan is literally the poster child for spammers. That photo.

Searching for intellect. Does anyone have advice for Donovan that he may be thankful for AND printable?

The masses are being educated by the uneducated.

The OP seems to suggest that architects design a lot of houses and are required by law to design them and were taught to do so in a graduate degree program.
That is true for multi-family housing but not single family housing.
If you’re looking to blame someone for the awful designs, look elsewhere.
And just because someone calls themself an architect doesn’t necessarily mean they have a license to do so.

Wrong subject. Just like everywhere else, this is dispute over quicker cheaper vs better, personal and way costlier. Chinese made vs US made. Yes custom homes cost more because of many unknowns, more expensive finishes, errors vs mass production.

Saying this I can not even begin to understand how could it have went so bad on the picture @Mark Bischak, Architect posted and it was "sold". Like spot 10 mistakes puzzle. It appears to hit every possible amature design mistake: from a garage valley next to a vertical wall, hip roofs having with different pitches, paladins, stupid fenestration, ...

Too often, a bad result is the RESULT of someone knowing ....."exactly what I want" .

Of course you do, sweetie. . But just as often out of context, not possible in a pleasing, comfortable, functional way. Many professionals will "yes" that person to a demise. Because to do the argument, education, and cajoling involved in dissuading is harder work, than the WORK. ...................: )

Since it has been bumped, here is a short documentary that touches on the 'education' of an architect. Go to this website https://www.yyarchitects.com/ and scroll down just a little bit and click on the little box around "View Company". A pull down will appear and click on "Documentary".

I do not know these architects but I have seen their work and have been in one of the houses they have designed. Beautiful architecture with insight into how it gets there.

I think most people would love to live in a home that was designed by a brilliant architect who customized the home to fit the landscape and to function perfectly for their family and activities, built by a high quality builder and furnished through an amazing interior designer.

But reality is that homes need to be provided for every economic level of society and the best of the best is reserved for the richest of the richest.

The rest make compromises from their ideal until it meets their budget.

But there is nothing that says cheap housing needs to be poorly designed. Poorly built is another problematic discussion. I actually think more modest housing is Better designed because there has to be economy in it. I think some of the most hideous and Poorly designed housing is the most expensive. I keep trying to delete this discussion because it keeps popping up like a bad penny.

@palimpsest, so true! Something I find interesting: when I browse the big home plan mills, I find the smaller homes are much better designed than the larger ones-- at least in terms of functionality. It's as though more space leads to less rigorous thinking on how best to use it.

Many times limits create inspired design.

Many people believe they can not do something only because they are constantly unknowingly told they can not. Encouraging other people to do better, many time leads to far exceeding expectations.

Not all architectural education comes from colleges or universities, architecture itself can provide a learning environment.

I hope my comments are a good penny most of the time.

Many times limits create inspired design.

So true! And unlimited time and money can just as easily create a hot mess.

Many times limits create inspired design.

"Constraints are very important. They’re positive, because they allow you to work off something." – Charles Gwathmey

Mark, thank you for sharing that documentary. Beautiful, inspired, exemplary work!

Well, the reasons may be different, and it's hard to say what is the real reason for such educational changes. Maybe, now people start to study design because it sounds like a cool profession, and they don't think it requires hard work and critical thinking. Or maybe, students are not dedicated, and don't use all those educational materials they receive, and think that if the technology is so developed right now, so they can entirely rely on it. I'm also a student, and yes, I have my major, but some disciplines take a lot of time and effort. So maybe, students just have to do a lot of things and can't focus on their main interest. I study marketing, but I have other courses, and somethimes I do all the tasks till 3-4 am.

@palimpsest - I am glad you didn't delete the post, the responses are interesting and I think it is an add value post.

I love great architecture and agree that cheep housing doesn't need to be poorly designed and agree that modest housing is often very well designed, there is no room for excess or waste.

I also think there is benefit to using computer aided drafting and maybe someday with the advances of machine learning we can build in aesthetic checks. (I am totally fascinated with apps that can measure facial muscle tension to determine if people find something attractive or not attractive. . . People will say what they want you to hear, but their face doesn't lie.)

I think the worst designs are often what I would describe as a "wanna be". They want more. More is always better.

"We have 2 children, but need a 6 bedroom, 8 bath home with a 48" Wolfe Range, double ovens and separate full size sub zero refrigerator and freezer and no upper cabinets. Don't need cabinets - we eat out. But two islands are better than 1 - give me two, no give me three! I win!"

I agree with Jennifer Hogan, I am so glad this thread has not been deleted. It is a very important conversation, one that I hope will educate at least one person who can go forward with ideas that will influence others and perhaps create new and wonderfully designed homes that will function well and inspire their residents. If you don't want to engage in the conversation or even read the comments, then skip it, and move on to the next topic.

It could be argued that nothing has gone wrong with the education of designers. The issue is the design education (or rather, lack thereof) of the majority of consumers. Most of our elementary and high school curricula no longer have much of an arts component. Arts are seen as "extra" rather than intrinsic to a basic education and the development of a well-rounded citizen.

^^^ Too true.

And too few understand that good design isn't what is pasted on, or what is not pasted on, (either in architecture, or any other art form) but in how the whole relates to one another.

This need to add more permeates all art forms nowadays. I do needlepoint as a hobby and belong to several groups online. It seems that the more different stitches someone uses, the more ohs and ahs they get even though most times, all one sees is a mish mash of too many stitches not relating to one another or to the canvas underneath.

I see the same thing in so much art where the need to edit is lost.

Or in more contemporary art and design the lack of balance, not to inform the viewer, but because the "artist" truly has no clue.

This has nothing to do with the technology. This is all about maximizing profits....build something big as quickly as possible. But it would seem (at least from the exterior) there would be a way to create something that looks good and is cost effective. There probably isn't a motivation to change because people are still buying them. There should probably be more rules dictating the design elements of what is built but considering we are not keeping up with the demand for houses I do not think many people have the will to impose more regulations.

The world has enough rules which attempt to protect people from themselves. Hasn't worked yet, and it won't work in the future.

@Lyndee Lee there are places where someone lives between two well proportioned homes and a builder tears them down and builds two new houses twice as big as the old homes , removing as much air space as possible and creating a never ending shadow over the remaining home. Everyplace is different but there is definitely room to have ordinances to prevent oversized, out of place homes from turning neighborhoods into giant cube smarts. There is a middle ground. I don't know what protecting people from themselves relates to architecture ordinances or at what number we reached the "enough" level.

@George, most jurisdictions have zoning laws that define how close to the property line you can build and a variety of other offsets. If a builder wishes to do something else, they have to apply for a variance. The public is given the chance to speak for/against these variances. The issue is that most people don't pay any attention until after the variance has been granted and it's too late.

@Jennifer K I totally understand where you are coming from but try and fight a builder or home owner who has a lot of money. They get any variance they want. To stop it you have to sue and these cases drag on for years and cost millions. There is no way to keep up with all the variance requests unless you are constantly monitoring your city's department of buildings.

The committee of adjustment in Toronto is a joke. Variances are always approved, and anyway if you build it then it never has to be changed.

The lot next to my sister's home was built with a home both taller and closer to the road than the bylaws allow. Their objection was ignored.

Then an enormous second-story deck was built on the house, which was much larger than the plan. The bylaw inspector measured it, agreed that it was not built according to plan. Then ruled that since it was half built already, it could stay as they were building it. A joke.

"Committee of Adjustment" sounds like a group of chiropractors.

If I were to refer to them as ”Committee of Maladjustment” would I risk being barred from building a house in Canada? I‘m not in Canada, and have no plans of going to Canada - but would hate to burn any bridges. Do they have anything to do with bridges ?

Where I live you are notified if any of your neighbors are asking for a variance and informed on when and where the hearing will be held. For the most part I think they listen to both sides and act fairly (unless it is the Mayor's son or the sister of the DA . . .) Still a boy's club.

On the other hand, not being fully aware of zoning and making sure things are what they should be when you purchase a property can be devastating. I lived near Escondido CA when the Escondido Golf Course failed. The zoning for the golf course wasn't updated when the golf course was built and remained zoned residential. When a developer bought the land he had every right to build houses where the golf course was. A 6 year court battle ensued, but there was little the homeowners could do. The same developer bought another golf course in a nearby city (Poway) and because of the zoning had to work with the community to earn compromises.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-county/sd-no-develop-comparison-20170811-story.html

@Jennifer Hogan It is can be difficult to keep track of zoning and understand the law. We have variances posted online but I am in nyc. My 1 miles radius neighborhood has 1 million people in it and a hundreds of department of building requests a day. NYC itself gets thousands of variance requests a week for the city's 3.5 million homes. I don't think there are even a million people in Escondido. It is just a scale that is so large it is difficult to keep track of unless you dedicated a lot of time to it.

Entire houses get built here in the middle of a crowded city of 1.6M people, in plain site, without a single permit. Houses which have been flipped sell regularly without requiring any proof that the work was permitted. And 1/3 of city building inspectors have quit in just the past few years so this is only going to get worse.

I am sorry, but when I think of living in NYC I don't think of single family homes, I think condos and apartments, but I have never lived there. My sister worked in NYC, but lived in Jersey in a detached SFH, but the space between homes was only 3'. Not sure I am understanding the impact of zoning variances in your neighborhood.

I'm not seeing the issues where you have a kid friendly neighborhood and someone opens a bar that will be open till 2 am next door to your home.

Can you help me understand.

@Jennifer Hogan It depends which borough you are in and on which block. It is not so much a bar it's converting a single family home into a 4 story and renting it to 8 families. That is usually what happens in my area. In Manhattan one person (Madonna for example) will buy the entire block (she did) and make it a giant house.

There are row homes in every borough but skyscrapers mostly in Manhattan. In most areas of nyc you can run a business out of your home if you get a license, dentist office,.doctor etc. Bronx and Queens have many single family homes that are not attached or 2-3 family detached homes. Bars stay open to 9am lol. The city changes from block to block. Yes you could live on a quiet street and have a bar open on the corner. More likely a 24 hour bodega. My friend lives in a row home and her neighbor opened and coffee shop in the first floor of her multi family. There are people literally standing in line outside her window everyday. My other friend rents half her house to a dentist (it was legally divided)..

@George , thank you for explaining. I hadn't thought of those types of issues vs the small town issues we face where I currently live or the suburban issues from when I lived in So Cal.

@palimpsest - Where do you live?

@Jennifer Hogan but even with all these issue I love it here :-)

I am back home in Pennsylvania Dutch Country with horse and buggy hitches at our local Costco and farm stands that just have a glass jar on the table and trust that you will pay for anything you take and I love it here. Don't miss San Diego suburbs. Don't think I would last a month in NYC, but obviously 8 million people seem to agree with you that it is the best place to live.

It really does depend on where one is in NYC. As George mentions - there are a number of boroughs here (5). And all of the boroughs (including Manhattan) do have a mix of housing - including single family, detached homes. Those homes are a bit more rare in Manhattan - but they definitely do exist. In Manhattan, these homes can range from (and would be generally categorized as) brownstones, townhouses, rowhouses, mansions - depending on structure, where located, etc.

I currently live in one of the boroughs outside of Manhattan, relatively short commute via Henry Hudson Parkway.. In my neck of the woods, these are a few of the houses currently for sale:

A former neighbor of mine wanted to build an addition on the rear of his (row) house, which was smaller than many of the preexisting rear ells, but no longer compliant (encroached on now required open space by a small amount). A neighbor, not a next door neighbor fought him tooth and nail on this insisting it was going to block light from her house, cause water run off issues and so fourth. The guy in general was brilliant, so he ended up having satellite photos and then modeling to show that shadows would not reach her house, percolation studies showing that he could improve water run off and so forth. But since it was a variance she was prevailing to some extent. Finally his permit was getting ready to expire, and he realized that if he could demolish the house behind his, he would no longer even need a variance because there would be no other house to have distances from and lots of green space.

So he knocked on the door of the backyard neighbor and said "Hey do you want to sell your house? I will give you cash, name your (reasonable) price, completed the deal and promptly slapped a demolition notice on that house. He even got an architect involved about how he would resolve that missing house on the charming street behind.

That finally got enough attention of other neighbors none of whom objected to the original variance requested but had not wanted to get involved at that point.

@palimpsest oh I know that area . Many people aren’t aware of this area of your borough