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News & ArtsTuesday, July 12, 2011
Architecture House of the Week
Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 8:39 AM
We have heard about the box that the Space Needle came in. But how about this:
2
more ugly crap.
seriously, the homage to the rectangle has to stop. it's simply ugly. the perverse need to pretent that plain is beuatiful, that exposed rough hewn structure is beautiful, and pretense that "symmetry doesn't matter" is a passing fad. In 10 years we will look at the neo log cabin and neo fish packing plant styles of houses we are building today with as much love and affection as we look at the 1980's apartments dotting ballard with their vacant spaces beneath for the cars, providing nice ugly oil spots stains to display to the street, topped off by Early Motel styles of sliding windows and textured facades with brilliant designs like diamonds in pastel or a stylized Viking boat that says "Northwest Kitsch."
Meanwhile Soap Lake is intent on distrating you from its natural beauty with a lava lamp tower. The house shown here is on the same level as that. It's lazy, ugly, copycat and pretentious. It's not any style that will be remembered in 60 years as beautiful; not the way we look at our tudors, victorians, craftsman homes and neocolonials today. Taht ugly brown square with the little tiny window screams "functional boxness...reminiscent of an outhouse....with a soupcon of arrogance, dissing the neighbors." A failure of thought and style.
seriously, the homage to the rectangle has to stop. it's simply ugly. the perverse need to pretent that plain is beuatiful, that exposed rough hewn structure is beautiful, and pretense that "symmetry doesn't matter" is a passing fad. In 10 years we will look at the neo log cabin and neo fish packing plant styles of houses we are building today with as much love and affection as we look at the 1980's apartments dotting ballard with their vacant spaces beneath for the cars, providing nice ugly oil spots stains to display to the street, topped off by Early Motel styles of sliding windows and textured facades with brilliant designs like diamonds in pastel or a stylized Viking boat that says "Northwest Kitsch."
Meanwhile Soap Lake is intent on distrating you from its natural beauty with a lava lamp tower. The house shown here is on the same level as that. It's lazy, ugly, copycat and pretentious. It's not any style that will be remembered in 60 years as beautiful; not the way we look at our tudors, victorians, craftsman homes and neocolonials today. Taht ugly brown square with the little tiny window screams "functional boxness...reminiscent of an outhouse....with a soupcon of arrogance, dissing the neighbors." A failure of thought and style.
3
I'm sure it looks fine and is very practical on the inside. They just don't give a flying fuck what other people think.
Nothin' wrong with that.
Nothin' wrong with that.
5
@3
yes there is something wrong with that. it's called being a jerk, and promoting ugliness. In fact, the whole reason this "style" of house as "uniqueness" is that it IS at odds with conventional architecture and traditional notions of beauty. Thus, it expropriates the styles of others to play off them like when you go to a party and there's some asshole who shows up wearing a sweaty tee shirt with paitn stains on it to display that "I'm different and I don't buy every else's notions of conformity! You are bourgious and I am rude!" simply to stand out and make a point.
the aesthetic is rudeness -- in both senses.
What's wrong with it is it isn't beautiful, it doesn't make the neighborhood beutiful, and it destroys the beauty that otheres have helped install for the neighborhood. other houses have pattern language; this one screams "fuck off" and if the whole neighborhood looked like this house you'd hate it and most people wouldn't want to live there. boxes have been around for several millenia, it's not rocket science to conclude that they're just not that attractive and this is why you don't see them hardly anywhere in the world except maybe the mud houses of mali or someplace too poor to add a pitched roof or a trellis or a nice curvy adobe type roof and flowers. you know, stuff that looks nice? stuff with integrity? stuff that's not "un homage au packing crate"? stuff that says "humans live here; not products being shipped."
yes there is something wrong with that. it's called being a jerk, and promoting ugliness. In fact, the whole reason this "style" of house as "uniqueness" is that it IS at odds with conventional architecture and traditional notions of beauty. Thus, it expropriates the styles of others to play off them like when you go to a party and there's some asshole who shows up wearing a sweaty tee shirt with paitn stains on it to display that "I'm different and I don't buy every else's notions of conformity! You are bourgious and I am rude!" simply to stand out and make a point.
the aesthetic is rudeness -- in both senses.
What's wrong with it is it isn't beautiful, it doesn't make the neighborhood beutiful, and it destroys the beauty that otheres have helped install for the neighborhood. other houses have pattern language; this one screams "fuck off" and if the whole neighborhood looked like this house you'd hate it and most people wouldn't want to live there. boxes have been around for several millenia, it's not rocket science to conclude that they're just not that attractive and this is why you don't see them hardly anywhere in the world except maybe the mud houses of mali or someplace too poor to add a pitched roof or a trellis or a nice curvy adobe type roof and flowers. you know, stuff that looks nice? stuff with integrity? stuff that's not "un homage au packing crate"? stuff that says "humans live here; not products being shipped."
8
They're pretty cool for infill, I suppose - not fond of the fortress look, but these were spec built, and in certain neighborhoods if you're going to try to build a house and sell it for $400,000 (as they did here) the "impregnable", get-away-neighbors facade does attract a certain sort of homebuyer. I do like it more than the townhouse-style things put up all around there. Here are some more photos:
http://seattlemodernhomes.wordpress.com/…
http://seattlemodernhomes.wordpress.com/…
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@7 - The white portion with the gabled roof is indeed part of the box house. On top of the box portion is a deck. A nearly identical house is located behind this one. I walked through the one in the back while searching for a new home.
10
Last week I saw kittens (and their teen momcat) running around the little white house next door. Coming soon: a feral cat colony!
11
seattle zoning gives you more height if you gable your roof. it's the only way to get a three-story house. lame.
12
@8 thanks, now that I see the inside of the box I am even more sure this is crap. The blank yard walled in like a prison cell, but with grass. so hostile to the street. The impermeable concrete low wall reminiscent of the Loading Bay. The blank wooden wall like a Stockyard Wall Motif. The lack of any perch veranda porch semi private transitional mode. Teh lack of any inviting entrance. The lack of any real connection to the street. The angular hostility of it. The whole thing is pure crap. The big window is not beautiful. There is no center to this space. Graffiti will mar it soon. The little window is especially ugly. The earthy quality the woodsy feel of the walls is simply out of place; buildings should not look like nature, or a log cabin, seriously, we grew out of wodden huts in about the year 5000 BC for most of the caucasian world where wood was plentiful. this is no more good looking than a russian wooden hut circa the year 1150. It's just more razor edged straight and level. It's no more interesting than looking at a wooden shed in a stockyard in Omaha. It looks like it will have splinters. It is antihuman, not inviting, it is a fart to the neighborhood.
Now, there are some hwo like this, but then there are some who like those bromance movies full of fart jokes too.
Now, there are some hwo like this, but then there are some who like those bromance movies full of fart jokes too.
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@5: Yes, because your definition of beauty and aesthetics, or what you consider "traditionally" acceptable, should be the only barometer for how people should choose to construct the homes they'd like to live in.
14
" blank yard walled in like a prison cell, but with grass. so hostile to the street."
Well, it'll fit right into that neighborhood then
Me thinks the walls are there to keep the new 'neighbors' out. Call it 'Bunker-Modern Gentrification style'.
" blank yard walled in like a prison cell, but with grass. so hostile to the street."
Well, it'll fit right into that neighborhood then
Me thinks the walls are there to keep the new 'neighbors' out. Call it 'Bunker-Modern Gentrification style'.
17
That whole area between Rainier and MLK, south of I-90 and north of Bayview is really starting to take off.
18
"That whole area between Rainier and MLK, south of I-90 and north of Bayview is really starting to take off."
You mean white people are moving in? I guess that's one way to fix the gang problem.
You mean white people are moving in? I guess that's one way to fix the gang problem.
19
Charles, I live a block away from this. You should have stopped by for a glass of wine. I always keep a spare bottle of Bordeaux on hand in case I see you wandering the neighborhood. I must have been out when you came by. Next time.
This is indeed a peculiar neighborhood. Vacant lot's, boarded up houses, 1930's era homes in various states of repair, and new construction like this.
This was a spec home and I think it was built by the same developer as the house to the left (out of frame). This one sold fairly quickly, maybe a month.
There is true box being built on 25th between Holgate and Plum, right across from the Red Cross. It sat their, half built, for about two years, wrapped up in Tyvek that would whip about like a torn sail during wind storms. It was purchased in a bank auction six months ago. The guys working on it now are indefatigable, out there seven days a week hurrying it to completion. I'll send you a picture of it Charles.
This is indeed a peculiar neighborhood. Vacant lot's, boarded up houses, 1930's era homes in various states of repair, and new construction like this.
This was a spec home and I think it was built by the same developer as the house to the left (out of frame). This one sold fairly quickly, maybe a month.
There is true box being built on 25th between Holgate and Plum, right across from the Red Cross. It sat their, half built, for about two years, wrapped up in Tyvek that would whip about like a torn sail during wind storms. It was purchased in a bank auction six months ago. The guys working on it now are indefatigable, out there seven days a week hurrying it to completion. I'll send you a picture of it Charles.
20
My husband and I are the owners of this home and as a proud (and terrified) first time home owner, I'd like to address some of the issues discussed above. Sadly, the posted photo does not show the entrance to our house and doesn't give the viewer an accurate idea of the context of the neighborhood in which it is built. Here are some better photos:
http://www.benjamincustomhomes.com/Page%…
The discussion of context: Although I agree the architecture is quite unique, in many ways the house actually blends into the neighborhood. Next door to our home are newer modern townhouses, as can be found on most of the surrounding streets. The church across the street is a low, modernist Japanese church. Across the street on Grand, you’ll find some very similarly modern, three story homes. The juxtaposition of sporadic modern architecture and neglected bungalows is actually quite interesting and adds character to the neighborhood. It is also representative of the diversity of race, religion, economic status and age that actually exists in this neighborhood.
I think it is very smart to bring up context when discussing this type of architecture, but building brand new, modern, built-green homes to look like a 1940s bungalow (to match the existing architecture) doesn't make sense. Our needs as homeowners are quite different than they were 70 years ago, which isn't necessarily a negative thing. Our modern demands include energy efficiency, lots of natural light and plenty of closet space.
Density created by this type of construction can also affect a neighborhood positively. Instead of having a large, high maintenance yard, we have a small yard and deck that encourages us to use the many public parks in the neighborhood, thus harboring a sense of community and forcing interaction with our neighbors. The fence in the front yard is not a "fortress" but provides a much needed sense of privacy and security. As for the widely discussed roof, I was also initially turned off by the shape. The truth is, designing a home with a flat roof in Seattle isn’t the best idea, for obvious reasons. The pitched roof also creates a lovely, open loft space on the top floor and actually fits the context of the neighborhood better than a flat roof would.
The site on which this house is built was vacant for quite some time. It was just an empty, abandoned lot. Is it really such a terrible thing to build a modern, new home in a diverse, growing neighborhood? Not only are my husband and I appreciative of modern architecture, we absolutely love the neighborhood and have made friends with our wonderful neighbors and their families. We are an interracial couple and want to raise our future children in a diverse neighborhood, which was one of our motivations in buying this home.
Thank you for your interesting comments regarding our home!
More...
My husband and I are the owners of this home and as a proud (and terrified) first time home owner, I'd like to address some of the issues discussed above. Sadly, the posted photo does not show the entrance to our house and doesn't give the viewer an accurate idea of the context of the neighborhood in which it is built. Here are some better photos:
http://www.benjamincustomhomes.com/Page%…
The discussion of context: Although I agree the architecture is quite unique, in many ways the house actually blends into the neighborhood. Next door to our home are newer modern townhouses, as can be found on most of the surrounding streets. The church across the street is a low, modernist Japanese church. Across the street on Grand, you’ll find some very similarly modern, three story homes. The juxtaposition of sporadic modern architecture and neglected bungalows is actually quite interesting and adds character to the neighborhood. It is also representative of the diversity of race, religion, economic status and age that actually exists in this neighborhood.
I think it is very smart to bring up context when discussing this type of architecture, but building brand new, modern, built-green homes to look like a 1940s bungalow (to match the existing architecture) doesn't make sense. Our needs as homeowners are quite different than they were 70 years ago, which isn't necessarily a negative thing. Our modern demands include energy efficiency, lots of natural light and plenty of closet space.
Density created by this type of construction can also affect a neighborhood positively. Instead of having a large, high maintenance yard, we have a small yard and deck that encourages us to use the many public parks in the neighborhood, thus harboring a sense of community and forcing interaction with our neighbors. The fence in the front yard is not a "fortress" but provides a much needed sense of privacy and security. As for the widely discussed roof, I was also initially turned off by the shape. The truth is, designing a home with a flat roof in Seattle isn’t the best idea, for obvious reasons. The pitched roof also creates a lovely, open loft space on the top floor and actually fits the context of the neighborhood better than a flat roof would.
The site on which this house is built was vacant for quite some time. It was just an empty, abandoned lot. Is it really such a terrible thing to build a modern, new home in a diverse, growing neighborhood? Not only are my husband and I appreciative of modern architecture, we absolutely love the neighborhood and have made friends with our wonderful neighbors and their families. We are an interracial couple and want to raise our future children in a diverse neighborhood, which was one of our motivations in buying this home.
Thank you for your interesting comments regarding our home!
21
". It is also representative of the diversity of race, religion, economic status and age that actually exists in this neighborhood."
Not for for much longer.
Not for for much longer.
24
". It is also representative of the diversity of race, religion, economic status and age that actually exists in this neighborhood."
Gotta love limousine liberals.
Gotta love limousine liberals.
26
@William Shitner- Oh no! The property values of a depressed, transitioning neighborhood just rose in value! The nerve of those people for doing the 'hood a favor.
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@26 actually I fully support gentrification, best way to improve a neighborhood. I just wouldn't pretend I'm doing my poor renting neighbors a 'favor' by moving in by driving up property values.
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