Tag: mcmansions | ArchDaily

Imagining the Future of Suburbia, From “Freedomland” to “McMansion Hell”

Kate Wagner — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 04:00:00 +0000

This article was originally published on the blog of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the largest platform for contemporary architecture in North America. The blog invites designers, writers and other contributors to independently express their perspectives on the Biennial across a range of formats. The 2017 Biennial, entitled Make New History, will be free and open to the public between September 16, 2017 and January 6, 2018.

99% Invisible Tackles McMansions and the Architecture of Evil

Sabrina Santos — Sun, 18 Dec 2016 16:00:00 +0000

Architecture critic Kate Wagner has collaborated with 99% invisible on a podcast and a guest column delving into the tragedies of McMansions and the representation of evil through architecture in film, respectively.

Have We Reached the End of the McMansion Era?

Patrick Lynch — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 14:05:00 +0000

The architectural world’s most hated structures may finally be meeting their demise. McMansions, the cheaply-built, faux-opulent mega-houses that litter many of the world’s suburban communities, were born in the 1980s and quickly became the most desirable living accommodation for middle and upper-middle class families. After a slight blip caused by the financial recession of 2008, McMansion popularity returned, with the median size of homes reaching a peak of 2,488 square feet just last year. But as seen in a new study conducted with data from real estate website Trulia, the economic benefit of purchasing one of these houses may now finally be falling.

Otherothers' "Offset House" Reveals the Architecture Hidden in Suburban Homes

Patrick Lynch — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 10:30:00 +0000

In the classic film The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and friends manage to obtain a visit with the great and powerful wizard, who appears to them as an enormous, grotesque head, surrounded by smoke and flames, with a booming voice and a hostile demeanor. But when Toto pulls back the curtain, the wizard’s true nature is revealed, and it is only then that he is able to help the gang get the help for which they journeyed many miles down the yellow brick road. In architecture today, suburban houses share many of the characteristics of the wizard’s illusion: large, stand-offish and intimidating. But what if there is a more benevolent architecture hidden behind the smoke and flames? This is the thesis of Australian firm Otherothers' Offset House, on display now at the Chicago Architecture Biennale.

McMansions: The Ultimate Symbol of American Inequality

Rory Stott — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

In this fascinating post for Salon, Thomas Frank holds nothing back on the topic of so-called "McMansions". Charting their history from the 1980s to today, he reveals the economics and government policies which made them possible, concluding that they are not just a symptom of the inequality in modern US society, but the very cause of it: "Everything we do seems designed to make this thing possible... This stupendous, staring banality is the final outcome for which we have sacrificed everything else." You can read the full article here.