Imagine yourself immersed in a library built sometime in the 1800s, with immensely tall ceilings, intricate detailing in every corner of the building, from the mosaic windows, to the colorfully tiled floors and dim lighting in a fall evening. The furniture around you is rustic, wooden, and could be very much considered historically sacred. The heavy chandeliers are a testament to strength and beauty in one.
But all of a sudden, you open your eyes and end up in a modern, futuristic-style library, where simplicity and minimalism speaks volumes. It feels cold—not due to the temperature of the room, but rather the atmosphere. Exiting the library, you witness a vertical rectangular prism of a building in solid grey. Some might call the concrete walls brutalism, a type of aesthetic developed in the 1950s, embodying greyness, sharpness, grandness and bulkiness.
Global architecture is as versatile as it is subjective, varying widely as styles evolve, tastes change and technology develops. However, in recent decades, a shift towards minimalism, modernity, and simplicity has overtaken the architectural scene. Prominent examples include the Apple Park in Cupertino, which integrates sleek design and cast expanses of glass to emphasize openness and minimalism, and the Tate Modern in London, which blends industrial history with modern design.
In residential architecture, this trend is evident in the surge of tiny home movements and modular housing solutions that prioritize efficiency and environmental sustainability over ornate design. These homes often feature clean lines, open spaces, and a restrained material and color palette, emphasizing function and simplicity.
While buildings like these represent necessity, they also embody a “one and done” mentality. Modern single-family homes and the neighborhoods they populate remind me of the utopian neighborhood portrayed in Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere. Every lawn must be neatly mowed; every front yard and house must look identical, mirroring real-life HOA requirements that demand uniformity. The average middle-class neighborhood looks like endless rows of copy-pasted homes with little differentiation, side by side.
This efficiency might require them to be built by the same design, yet aside from some non-commercial buildings embodying a captivating futuristic design, there is a lack of authenticity and closeness to detailed art. Consider the evolution of McDonald’s buildings—from the bright red and yellow of your childhood to the modern look of dark grey and blandness. This rebrand seems to follow the trend of modernization and oversimplification.
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Although potentially unfeasible and resource-intensive, a movement to revive the detail, intricacy, and passion in architectural design would be welcome. By reintegrating these elements, we can enrich our surroundings, making them not only functional but also artistically inspiring and emotionally resonant. As we move forward, it is crucial to balance efficiency and aesthetic value, ensuring that our built environment nourishes the soul as much as it serves practical needs.