They call it architecture, but is it really? All new development seem to look the same. Whether it’s townhouse, apartment, “condo”, “carriage homes” it’s all about maximizing developer profits and it has absolutely zero to do with the area in which something is being built or what exists there already like the people or the future. This is all about how much money can a developer get now and move onto the next project.

A lot of people are actually quite presumptive in their ignorance. I have attended many meetings over the years about development period. Whether it be zoning, planning, or regular board meetings.

And I have to laugh when someone says developers don’t decide on the “look” of their buildings. Ummm developers indeed DO decide on the architecture of their project. And again, today there is a distinct lack of style. It’s all about how fast you can throw them up and most of them look like they were built out of Lego sets. It’s like real architecture is dead.

I posted a photo of said Lego architecture this week that was from West Philadelphia. The reason I posted it was to prove that the same style new build is going everywhere. Nothing is adapting much to the surroundings. It’s one style and it’s a Lego building that gets plunked in. Truthfully, so many of these buildings look the same but I’m surprised they aren’t being delivered 100% prefab.

If you ever drive along I 95 to take a bridge like the Betsy Ross to New Jersey you’ll even see these buildings going up there right along I 95 and they look the same as the ones along 202 or Route 30 out here…West Philadelphia, wherever-it’s all the same.

Lego buildings are everywhere. In urban areas and suburban areas. No longer are projects being built to complement the area in which they are going. No longer our projects built to remotely look like they fit, let alone have human scale and good setbacks.

I take pictures of architecture everywhere, but this new style, cram first- actual architectural design later is ugly and it doesn’t have to be.

I actually do know people who have put up new buildings that were taking chances in formally rundown urban neighborhoods that actually have an architectural component to them. Not everything has to be unattractive and pretty much everything is unattractive these days with very few exceptions.

And I am tired like many other people of Lego architecture getting shoved into our communities.

I don’t understand why more people in positions in government and zoning and planning also are not sick of Lego architecture? Where have all the planners and architects gone that used to care about things fitting into the environment?

We have become one big huge homogenous glob of regurgitated ugliness because everything everywhere looks the same and it’s basically the same construction. It goes up fast, won’t last, and then we’re stuck with them in our communities.

What happened to making sure scale was appropriate and not just giving a zoning variance like cheap jellybeans out of a candy machine every time a developer wants to go up a few feet? What happened to developers that actually gave a shit about design? I actually wonder why they all want to look like each other which is like some kid’s Lego project?

We’ve gone from single-family developers, who add so much crap and articulation to a building it looks dizzy to people that basically open the box of Legos and just build them up.

What single-family construction exists is so cheek to jowl that you can reach out of your window and tap on your neighbors window and ask to borrow a cup of sugar. Everything is all about the density. And people are already regretting it in their communities. I mean what happened to people wanting to do things like garden? Why does everyone want to live in a place that looks the same to such a point that you get people lost in your development because nothing stands out?

Yet it all marches forward. And one reason is there are no design standards, limited taste, and the Municipalities Planning Code which hasn’t been comprehensively updated since 1969.

The Municipalities Planning Code guides all the zoning in this state. And over development is everywhere. Ironically, some of the worst over development is close to Harrisburg. Places like Mechanicsburg which used to be lovely, rolling farms and hills have been cramming them in for years. Lancaster County too. And of course, Montgomery County and Delaware County.

It’s depressing.

And all of this development is costing our communities. It’s driving up prices and it’s creating a more transient society. If we just take Chester County as an example, most of us moved here because it used to be so beautiful. Open space, farms, fabulous Pennsylvania farmhouse architecture, and more. Now much like neighboring Delaware County or Montgomery County. We have pockets of those things that still exist, but for the most part, everything is just being run over by crappy development and too much density.

And if people wonder why their taxes are going up look no further than the actual cost of development. West Whiteland is a prime example. They have avoided raising taxes for about 30 years and now they don’t have a choice. Infrastructure isn’t just roads and sewer systems, stormwater management, etc, there’s a human component like first responders. Or township employees who need to be hired and paid to keep pace with the needs of communities. And all of this development has a negative impact on school districts as well.

A friend of mine, who is a historian among other things actually put it well recently, when she said:

Architects are now vastly disturbed. Not since Toll Brothers creation of the McMansion. (Really, NYT traced it to the builder) has the state of American housing reached a new low. Worse, these new “boxes” are really just wood fire boxes – composite wood too since we are plowing thru our forests . Here’s what what one site says;

“Across the U.S., podium buildings have typically been 4-over-1 or 5-over-1, meaning they have four or five stories of wood over a single-level podium.”

The amusing thing is the article she quotes seems like they are lauding this style of cram plan. And to me, whether mid rise or high-rise, they’re all ugly.

These developments are obliterating our countryside. And to this day, the only people who seem to profit from this proliferation of ugliness are the developers. They plunk down the developments, and they move onto the next. The eternal hamster wheel of the Emperor’s new clothes.

In conclusion, you don’t have to like my opinion. But I am not going to stop saying I think these plans are ugly when they are. Our communities deserve better.