What's up with most buildings in America being so hideous to look at?

[Ethan1]

Been on the road traveling. Really gets me thinking how most places look exactly the same in terms of the buildings and layouts of towns.

It's confusing driving across the country and realizing how nearly every place looks nearly the same and super boring.  All the exact dull copies of commercial real estate properties and franchises that are take up some of the best locations. Fast food, restaurants, and stores. Yet they look completely ugly.  Not sure if this just symbolic of the business culture that doesn't really care about the vibe or feeling it gives off. Symbolic of our lack of spirituality & deeper connection to beauty & nature. 

Especially considering most of commercial real estate ...

Office space buildings that look completely square, dry, and boring. 

Fast food Some look better than office buildings but they all look exactly the same. Little to no effort to create a unique experience. Just cheap copies.

Malls tend to have a really soulless feel to them too. Not much of a real expression of creativity. Mostly just boring box style rooms.

Governmental buildings look sterile, old, cold, and empty. 

Industrial commercial real estate is clearly extremely horrific to look at. It's obvious it's primarily set up for a utility purpose but still. 

I mean, majority of rural small towns throughout America seem to still have buildings from the 60's - 70's and look pretty boring and dry. Even some look like complete ghost towns which it's hard to believe people actually live in them. 

Roads and streets... it's like there's little to no effort in making them to look decent. Primarily a utility focus. Some areas in Florida have uniquely designed roads. 

Interstates going from are pretty beat up and not well maintained. 

Hotels across the US all are just replicas and nothing unique to them. Simply focused on profit. Yet they lease these rooms out for like $100+ a night you'd think they'd put more effort into them.

Most of the decent looking buildings that really tend to stand out are like coffee shops and mainly bars. Some parks give a bit of a beauty to towns. Everything else seems to enjoy having a really boring dull exact copy look. Only beautiful places seem to be where commerical real estate hasn't taken over or it's difficult to build in. 

I find it weird how some buildings can give of a certain type of energy just by how it looks. Even some buildings that have been recently renovated still have a strange vibe to them that feels old. 

I've only seen a handful of places that really stand out that attempt to be different. Most are just conforming to similar boring building codes. Nothing outside the box. 

I couldn't imagine if there were more artists that designed buildings like Meow Wolf & things that really pop out. 
 

Then going to Greece and other parts of Europe it's crazy how completely different the architecture is there compared to America.  Makes no sense.

 

Edited October 30, 2022 by Ethan1

[Tyler Robinson]

Do you want buildings to look like giant ice cream cones and Mickey Mouses like in Disney? 

 

[Ethan1]

@Tyler Robinson Yes, that would spice things up a little rather than run down 7-Eleven gas stations. 

The whole Earth Ship projects have some pretty neat designs. I find it really interesting how they recycle stuff to build projects. Buildings that really outside the box thinking. Not a typical cookie cutter house.

Most houses along the gulf coast are built out of weak & cheap materials that can't sustain impact from hurricanes.  

Edited October 30, 2022 by Ethan1

[King Merk]

If this is something you’re passionate about then maybe you can be a pioneer in facilitating the shift towards more aesthetic buildings across America 

[aurum]

@Ethan1

There’s often not enough financial incentive to make more aesthetically pleasing architecture / infrastructure.

To be more artistic takes more time and energy. It can be bad for business. Business often requires doing things quickly, efficiently and at the lowest possible cost in order to compete. Art is none of those things.

Art can sometimes outperform non-art though. Sometimes something so beautiful is created that everyone just seems to recognize it.

As we collectively move more into stage Green, I would expect to see our aesthetics to improve a lot. 

[Shawn Philips]

the grass is always greener in the other side.

 

I live in Europe and I'm tired of narrow streets, traffic, overpopulation. Living in a small space with so much population density creates a perpetual state of anxiety! I envy the USA architecture where streets are wide, and there's space for everybody.