REMAINDERS

Sometimes people ask, why is xyz house bad? Asking this question does not imply that the asker has bad taste or no taste whatsoever - it means that they are simply not educated in basic architectural concepts. In this post, I will introduce basic architectural concepts and explain why not all suburban/exurban/residential houses are McMansions, as well as what makes a McMansion especially hideous. 

Disclaimer: These same principles do not always apply to Modernist or even canonically Postmodern architecture. These principles are for the classical or traditional architecture most residential homes are modeled after. 

Design Principle #1: Masses & Voids

The mass is the largest portion of a building. Individual masses become interesting when they are combined together to form a façade. The arrangement of these shapes to create weight is called massing. As the pieces are combined, they are divided into categories: primary and secondary masses (1). 

The primary mass is the largest shape in the building block. The secondary masses are the additional shapes that form the façade of a building. 

Windows, doors, or other openings are called voids. Voids allow creation of negative space that allow for breaks within masses. Placing voids that allow for natural breaks in the mass create balance and rhythm across the building’s elevation. 

The secondary masses should never compete with the primary mass.  For example: an oversized projected entry or portico (secondary mass) will overwhelm the house (primary mass) behind it.  The McMansion has no concept of mass.  McMansions often have so many secondary masses that the primary mass is reduced to a role of filling in gaps between the secondary masses. An example:

Another issue with McMansions and mass is the use of too many voids. Some McMansions are so guilty of this they resemble swiss cheese in appearance. In the below example, the masses are so pockmarked with voids, they give the façade an overall appearance of emptiness. 

Design Principle #2: Balance

Cardinal Newman (via hthrloo)

I need this tattooed to the inside of my eyelids, and written on my bathroom mirror.

White police officers are murdering black citizens.

Full stop.

Here is the other deal:

Every time – every single time – this happens (and the fact that it has happened more than once, and keeps happening, and will happen again, fills me with unending shame at the state of my nation), police officers en masse clam up. Not a word is said.

Let me restate this in an effort to bring the point home:

A group of professionals have obvious murderers in their midst – murderers caught on video, no less – and this group of professionals is making a concerted effort, through their silence, to protect these individuals who, let me say this again, are murderers. Show me another profession where this is allowed to stand. I dare you.

So, let me say this, then:

If you are an officer of the law, and in particular, if you are a white officer of the law - because, let us not kid ourselves that these murders are anything other than a deadly manifestation of institutional racism – then it is incumbent upon you to speak up, to condemn these murders and these murderers. Say “not all police” all you like, the fact remains that expecting citizens to trust the police, when those same police, who are sworn to uphold the law, do nothing in the face of obvious and heinous crimes committed by those with whom they share a uniform, is ludicrous at best.

I cannot trust the police, I will not trust the police, until they show me through words and deeds that they place more value on the laws of the land and the citizens they are sworn to protect than they do on the relationships they have with their co-workers and the murderers they currently harbor.

I know there are literally thousands, tens of thousands, of good police – even good white police - in this country. But their silence is as much a problem as the actions of the murderers on their forces. I struggle with what I can do to help – and my next steps are to research and discover exactly what it is possible for me to do – but those who can help most are, without question, the good police out there.

Right now, when a white officer murders a black citizen, that officer can count on a network of support that will help scrub their sin clean. So, good cops: Take that away. Clean your house. With prejudice. When you stay silent, when you allow these crimes to stand, you let these murderers stain you and everyone else who wears a badge with the blood they spilled. You can change that, you can regain the trust of citizens, but you have to earn it with words, earn it with deeds, earn it with actions.