Random thoughts... - by Tocky
Azaran on 24/8/2023 at 17:29
Ugly, discordant additions to nice buildings are one of my pet peeves.
This is the equivalent of going to a nice banquet, dumping a bucket of rotten fish on the table, and then arguing with the guests about how delicious and appropriate the 'contribution' is.
Then again, starchitects often do it on purpose, they like to shock and offend. Bad publicity is is still publicity
mxleader on 24/8/2023 at 17:43
@Azaran - You literally picked every house from Grand Designs and complained about them. :laff:
I love that big tower home even though I don't like heights. That was a great episode from Grand Designs.
Nicker on 24/8/2023 at 18:26
The trouble with glass boxes is they look great from the inside but fugly and boring for everyone outside. They and their inhabitants have zero respect for the visual environment, whether that is the natural setting or the character of the neighbourhood.
The Starburst House is AFAIK and thankfully, just a computer rendered concept. It's impractical to build and uncomfortable, if not impossible to live in. To get into the bed in the master bedroom you have to climb over the head board. The dining room looks like some hostile dining nook in a fast food restaurant, intended to make certain you vacate just as soon as your hunger is satisfied.
Belinds Carr does a fair and comprehensive critique.
[video=youtube;veelsjn9Qow]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veelsjn9Qow[/video]
I also love the converted tower home. It is playful and adds some character in a rather drab development.
The dark grey box seems more like an imposition than a good natured challenge. Like it wants to out-industrial the worker's hives surrounding it.
Azaran. The corrugated plastic carton looks like it might have once contained those fish-heads. Nothing that a bit of compassionate arson couldn't fix.
heywood on 24/8/2023 at 19:40
I remember the water tower episode. It was an interesting build, but I'm not a fan of the result. It looks like the tower was decapitated and grew a goiter. It makes me wonder what the purpose of preserving it was, when it doesn't look like a water tower anymore. That reminds me of another episode about a very old stone barn with no historic value. Like the water tower episode, it highlighted how the preservation rules tend to favor letting old buildings fall down, because they make it hard to reconstruct them into usable spaces.
Grand Designs also covered several oddball builds in cities, as did the Australian show. Some of these builds were quite neat, like the bohemian guy who built a long, narrow home into a spare alley. And the (
https://www.piercyandco.com/projects/view/kew-house) Kew house is a good example of a modern home designed to fit in with the rest of the neighborhood. But the builds that tried to combine old and new weren't my favorites. They usually involved tearing off a wall and grafting on black steel & glass rectangles, with stark transitions and little thought to integrating the different styles. Here's an example:
(
https://www.techniquestudio.com/the-den) https://www.techniquestudio.com/the-den
mxleader on 25/8/2023 at 16:45
It looks a goofy depending on the angle. I do like that style of building but I wouldn't ever want to live in a container house. I'm more of a Louis Kahn Concrete kind of person if it's not going to be a Victorian era house in and of the iterations of the period. Edwardian is one of my favorites of the Victorian era.
demagogue on 25/8/2023 at 16:55
I'll always be a Tudor guy. :HenryVIII:
Nicker on 25/8/2023 at 17:02
Give me crenellations or give me death!
heywood on 25/8/2023 at 17:10
That Australian house is goofy, because the owner/builder is a goof. He exemplifies the Australian larrakin tradition that I grew fond of, and the host Peter Maddison isn't shy about taking a piss, subtly of course. The dailymotion link is the full episode in case anyone didn't check.
Also, we need an architecture thread.
