As any fule kno, one of my frequent irritations is architecture that is foul and ugly (especially of the Bauhaus / Le Corbusier / Post-Modern ilk). Reader Alex S. sends me an interesting take on the whole “Not In My Back Yard” (NIMBY) syndrome; and while it’s a long read, it’s definitely worth the time:
Western countries used to let landowners build almost anything anywhere. Now, strict rules freeze the character of most neighborhoods, banning change and densification. Why? One theory is that modern buildings tend to be ugly, leading residents to support rules that exclude them from their neighborhoods. If this is true, then designing beautiful buildings could lead to more development.
One could only hope. Let me clear on this: I’m absolutely not against redevelopment, especially in urban locations. The more the merrier, say I, as long as the new buildings don’t look like factories, warehouses and concrete/glass building blocks. In cities, by definition, where people are squashed together, there needs to be some kind of harmonious architecture — and not just for aesthetic reasons, either. It’s actually jarring to find, in an area that has a certain architectural feel or style to it, a new construction that belongs to the Fuck You School.
I’m less concerned with suburban architecture, by the way, especially if the houses are not standing cheek-by-jowl with each other. When it comes to personal property, I’m kinda-libertarian about the whole thing. While I may cluck my tongue and (occasionally) shake my fist at some modern concrete block house standing on the same street as some gracious older homes (and there’s a lot of that in Dallas), the way I see it is that if someone’s just dropped a couple mil on a piece of land, he should be allowed to build whatever he likes on it.
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. Along the occasionally-posh Inwood Road in north Dallas, one generally sees what I refer to as the “Dallas Mansion” style:
But on that very same road, one occasionally runs into an ugly Modernist edifice:
…and while I think that the above is a piece of shit and doesn’t fit into the overall tone of the neighborhood, I just shrug and say “No accounting for taste, is there?” and continue on my way to the DFW Gun Range.
My tolerance, however, stops very short when I see something like this:
…when it’s perched in a neighborhood that looks like this:
At that point, I start calling for the C4, and an investigation of the bank accounts of the people sitting on the local planning commission.
Never mind “not in my back yard”: it should be “not in anyone’s back yard”.
