Four circles of architectural hell

The title was originally “Seven circles of architectural hell” but it was late and I got tired, so there are only four now. I think that four is still much more than we deserve. Another pastime of architects (or is this how we torture ourselves?) is looking for stupidity not so well through design. And the best place to look for them are catalogues of homes. Last time we clashed with lumberjack. Now I have seen some terrible things of different kind. And because I am such a nice person, I am going to pick the worst, so you know what not to do.

I am wondering every day how some things could have even been built. Who had the guts to offer this to the client? Who had the taste to buy these? Was the one who made it proud of its work or was he wondering why he has to do these cruelties? The mistake could have been avoided if just one of these people realised what have they been doing. If only people looked for more than just a low price. If only companies weren´t trying to shovel these monstrosities to their clients’ throats. If only craftsman had more dignity. I hope that one mankind can rise above these. The only thing I can do is point it out and hope that somebody of these three starts to care.

Material harakiri

First of all, these coverings are hideous. It is not good enough when you use stone, and just put it wherever you like. It is fake. The wall is not really stone, we can see that so do not pretend. And it really doesn´t help when you paint the wall with “swamp green”. The house looks like it is either dying or suffering from split personality. This is a no go.

Was this necessary? At the bottom of the page, one can read that “this house is individual wish from a client”. Whoah, the client wished this? And you did not stop him? These windows sure do look all fancy, but only if you zooooooom really close. In overall, the execution is totally odd. Another solution would have been to put the gutter all the way in front of them and block the middle of the view. I am passing a house with that solution every day and really can´t decide which is worse. If you have any good solution for these windows, please let me know.

EDIT: I took a photo of the other ‘solution’ so now you can pick which highway to hell you want to take.

Muhahaha, that entrance is so beautifully outlined by these downpipes. Said no one ever. The brickwork looks nice and it is ruined so badly. It is a good idea to protect the entrance. However, do the gutters have to be in this colour? I can see that the owner is trying to hide them by some plants, which are unfortunately close to decomposing. Good luck with covering that.

And at the very end of the catalogue. This house cost nearly double the price of 150 sq.m. house. And it is only 80 sq.m and all around you have some in-between place. Which is very nice, I love in between spaces. And the idea about the house is interesting. It needs some refining. But still, interesting. But they are trying to sell you this half-baked idea for enormous bulk of money. How do they justify the cost? And they are advertising this as 150 sq.m. Did they actually sold at least one? So many questions and no answers.

That was exhausting. My eyes are bleeding now. And I have 15 more pictures in my photo folder. Mostly plans. Should I make another post about crime in architecture?

If I stopped at least one of catalogue houses from being built, than this post had a purpose. Death to catalogue houses. Demand quality. Educate yourself and you loved ones.

Cheers

Ondrej