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This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

237

Coworker sent me this link to a local realtor listing this morning.  (Trigger Warning- "Custom Home").  I just can't.  

 
Feb 11, 15 11:18 am
null pointer

Seen a lot worse.

A lot worse.

Feb 11, 15 11:21 am  · 
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SneakyPete

Material palette is kinda interesting. McMansion roof and massing is *HORK*...

Feb 11, 15 11:38 am  · 
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The two different scales on the stone is what gets me the most.  There isn't that much depth to the footprint.

Feb 11, 15 11:56 am  · 
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OMG I LOL'd!  No seriously, I gasped and laughed out loud.  It looks like an elf's house at Disneyland or something. Good lord that's ugly.

Feb 11, 15 12:14 pm  · 
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Thankfully the nonsensically mixed stone/brick palette continues on the interior fireplace, lest you forget how ugly the front of the house is once you're inside it.

Feb 11, 15 12:18 pm  · 
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Non Sequitur

... that handrail disappearing act is fantastic.

Feb 11, 15 12:19 pm  · 
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Did anyone here see the surreal and wonderfully oedipal movie Track 29, starring a young (super hot) Gary Oldman? The insane housewife of that movie would love this house.

Feb 11, 15 12:24 pm  · 
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natematt

Yeah, the handrail thing is what bothers me the most...

Feb 11, 15 12:48 pm  · 
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geezertect

That doesn't look real.  It looks like a computer generated drawing plunked into a digital photo of the building site.  The builder probably has a computer program of some sort and he/she is playing around with material selection command.  Whatever, it is horrendous but not the worse you'll ever see,.

Feb 11, 15 12:56 pm  · 
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They also never quite decide what the radius of the arches should be.  It was an experimentation in radii, I guess.  But hey, they have a full sink in the Master Bedroom.

Feb 11, 15 1:24 pm  · 
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And no, not the worst you'll ever see. Thinking seriously about doing a driveby to verify reality.

Feb 11, 15 1:26 pm  · 
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go do it

For some reason the front door is what bothers me the most.  They have an arch top door and then plant that awful pediment on top. It looks totally out of place and just screams laziness and cost "cheapiness"

This style of design is called "House Barf"

Feb 11, 15 1:27 pm  · 
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House Barf is a very popular style! And per Justin Shubow's assertions, the fact that it's popular *must* mean that it's good!

Troy the multiple arch radii drove me crazy too. Along with several different ways of terminating a roof. and the columns in the dining room that just stop. Thunk. On the drywall. And the classical molding shelf "holding up" the wall mounted TV. and the staggered, stacked cabinets in the home office. And the kitchen cooktop hood surround that looks like it's trying to swallow the chef.

Lord, just awful. All of it.

Feb 11, 15 1:32 pm  · 
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And the tile arch over the shower entry that *just kisses* the top of drywall mold farm.

Feb 11, 15 1:33 pm  · 
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There is a lesson to be learned here:

No amount of bad detailing can make up for a really shitty plan.

Feb 11, 15 1:39 pm  · 
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Wilma Buttfit

I like the towel hooks behind the toilet tank. 

Feb 11, 15 1:54 pm  · 
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citizen

++ Miles.

a.k.a. "Sure, it's ugly, but at least it's terribly organized."

Feb 11, 15 1:59 pm  · 
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Carrera

The proper architectural term is "Cake Decorating".

Feb 11, 15 2:00 pm  · 
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+++Miles & Citizen
Feb 11, 15 2:06 pm  · 
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TIQM

Wow.  That's about as awful as it gets.  It's freaky and horrific, really.

Donna said, "House Barf is a very popular style! And per Justin Shubow's assertions, the fact that it's popular *must* mean that it's good!"

Well... I am not sure that's actually what Justin said. 

It's not at all certain that this house's "style", if you can call it that, is actually popular.  I bet most average people look at a house like that and think it's as grotesque as we do.  But I do think that, if average folk DO find some appeal in awful houses like this, it's because, despite the awfulness of it, there is something in the language of traditional houses that speaks to some people. 

How about this one:

Feb 11, 15 2:10 pm  · 
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go do it

All the doors have four hinges so it is a really well built house, you know good bones and all that. 

Feb 11, 15 2:18 pm  · 
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curtkram

pretty sure that one is less real

i'm not sure what's happening on the left with the garages, so ignoring that, there are only 2 materials here, and a stone looking thing with some sort of probably eifs or stucco isn't so bad.  i think there is a fair possibility that real stone (or even lick and stick) would look a bit better since the tile map would be less apparent.

also, since this example isn't built, there is the possibility that they could fix it before it gets built.

it looks like the OP house wasn't built yet when the google street car drove by, but it might be worth checking out the neighbors:

https://goo.gl/maps/PZ8hp

everything is bigger in texas.  especially the bad ideas.

Feb 11, 15 2:22 pm  · 
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JeromeS

^ go do it

 

8/0 doors are provided with 4 hinges, industry standard.  doesn't prove it is "well built" it just means nobody cut THAT corner...

Feb 11, 15 2:25 pm  · 
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Non Sequitur

there is something about xmas decorations without snow that makes things uncomfortable when I look at google images... just feels like a bad horror movie.

Feb 11, 15 2:26 pm  · 
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That house is hideous, EKE, but its saving grace seems to be that it's not built.

Feb 11, 15 2:32 pm  · 
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gruen
Oh. Wow.

That actually takes skill. Not sure what to call that skill, but I know I don't have it.
Feb 11, 15 2:40 pm  · 
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I like the green tinted glass the most, do you think those are low E windows

Feb 11, 15 2:43 pm  · 
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toasteroven

of course it's in texas...

Feb 11, 15 2:47 pm  · 
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That rendering reminds me of the "2 team" jerseys from a few years back, like the ones the Harbaugh or Manning family would wear.

Feb 11, 15 3:21 pm  · 
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If snow is a requirement for Christmas Decor, we are SOL down here.

Feb 11, 15 3:24 pm  · 
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wurdan freo

Omg! 350k for that pos? Each photo gets worse and worse. Its like Tin Cup where he keeps hitting shot after shot in the water hazard... except we dont get the happy moment when he Finally hits the green. ICFBI! Appears to be a spec... Why arent more architects building houses?

Feb 11, 15 3:41 pm  · 
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x-jla

it looks like the deformed love child of two really ugly mcmansions.  

Feb 11, 15 3:50 pm  · 
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x-jla

think Id rather visit an ebola clinic than that house

Feb 11, 15 3:51 pm  · 
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citizen

btw... one of the best thread titles of the year, Troy.  Funny and painfully relevant to the topic.

Feb 11, 15 4:00 pm  · 
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Sarah Hamilton

Well, Longview isn't exactly an Architecture Mecca, but still, ouch.

And I live down here, and feel strange about Christmas without snow.  I blame the media.

Feb 11, 15 4:54 pm  · 
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While I have no interest in playing this particular game (because one glimpse was far more than enough), I will propose a version of Where's Waldo that may be even more difficult: find something in that hose that is well designed.

Feb 11, 15 6:25 pm  · 
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Wilma Buttfit

I like that the living room is on the back side of the house as opposed to the front. Well done!

Feb 11, 15 6:46 pm  · 
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curtkram

i like that it's in texas. where i will never have to see it.

Feb 11, 15 6:59 pm  · 
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awaiting_deletion

The handrail, it's 'deconstruction'. If Peter Eisenman had done that handrail and not in Home Depot stock railing, it would of been published and Kipnis would of wrote an essay about it and Thom Mayne would built an entire building based on the discontinuity of that handrail.

Feb 11, 15 7:36 pm  · 
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No, I can honestly say no, there is not a single good design detail in the house. The closest I could come would be the white painted risers with natural wood treads, but the bullnose and walnut finish just makes them bland.

In searching the photographs closely for something to compliment, however, I found 20 more things to despise.

Even the front door has a frown.

Feb 11, 15 7:44 pm  · 
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awaiting_deletion

Donna I don't think you understand the deconstructive nature of this house. Pic 3 - the column does not align with the coffered ceiling, therefore alluding to the artificial nature of this coffer ceiling.

Feb 11, 15 7:54 pm  · 
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DeTwan

EKE, the rendering you posted above is evident that the "designer" had definitely worked at a "multi-family" firm for awhile before getting the privilege of "designing" that beauty. Massing and detailing is ubiquitous to multi-family design.

Unfortunately whomever rendered it could have made it look quite a bit better if they scaled the material properly and rendered it better.   

Feb 11, 15 7:56 pm  · 
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awaiting_deletion

Pic 5 - column does not support ceiling. It terminates shortly before, thus the presumed artificial arch is actually a clad beam.

Feb 11, 15 7:56 pm  · 
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Olaf, calling me a curmudgeon after the positive spin I put on this thread?

Feb 11, 15 7:57 pm  · 
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awaiting_deletion

Pic 12 - the double stack fireplace allusion over the cooktop in kitchen is just a damn good joke. Venturi would be doing cartwheels. What do you put above a fireplace, not a hood, another fireplace.

Feb 11, 15 7:59 pm  · 
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It's so emphatic in not making any sense that it creates its own biosphere of logic. Got it.

Feb 11, 15 8:03 pm  · 
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awaiting_deletion

Pic 13 - ridiculously ergonomic desk space. And the too small to support window shutter sill trim that is meant to be a header trim.....talk about performance art........Miles, curmudgeons can be funny as well, actually usually are funny....

Feb 11, 15 8:03 pm  · 
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Funny, I almost thought the fireplace surround hood was a neat idea, then I saw the stack of two. 

I'd love to know who the architect is. Their website must be a hoot.

Feb 11, 15 8:03 pm  · 
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awaiting_deletion

Pic 15 - TV over fake fireplace mantel. The fireplace ended up as the kitchen hood, it ran away. Michael Graves was here for sure, but he ran into Salvador Dali on his way to the master bath to open his beer.

Feb 11, 15 8:05 pm  · 
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awaiting_deletion

There is a mini-bar in the Master bedroom!.........Pic 18 - shower head is connected to a square bridge while the entrance to the shower is an arch in a room with a triangular tub.

Feb 11, 15 8:08 pm  · 
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