Why Do All Cities Look the Same?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Explore the hidden history behind modern cityscapes. Ever wonder why urban centers from Singapore to São Paulo seem to share the same sleek towers and grid-like streets? In this deep dive, we trace the roots of modernism and the International Style-from A. Loos’s rejection of ornamentation and Louis Sullivan’s “form follows function” to the revolutionary ideas of the Bauhaus, De Stijl, and iconic architects like Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright. Discover how a century-long dream to embrace efficiency and simplicity not only reshaped our skylines but also inadvertently standardized global architecture.
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I wish different countries developed their own unique modern styles instead of everyone just doing the exact same thing...
Exactly. There is one such place tho. Its a city called El Alto. No one knew about it before they invented their own new unique architecture style called Neo Andean. It uses modern materials but uses local traditional designs. This is what every city should do. Check it out.
It's not just that it's uniform, but that it often doesn't take the human scale into account🐜
I don't know but it's very depressing. Corporations are ruining the earth with repetition.
... Communists are ruining this Country...
Khazarian mafia*
Corporations used to actually make the most beautiful skyscrapers. The problem lies with the culture in academia, since they design the buildings.
I lived and worked in San Francisco for years. I always marveled at the number of Art Deco skyscrapers that dot The City. Kudos to the architects that stepped outside of the Beax-Art and Neo-Gothic style to create such beautiful, playful and uniques structures. I had the privilege of working at 450 Sutter St during the 2010 restoration of the exterior Terracotta tiles and replacing the old lead windows. In 2012 I was also present for the celebration of the building being added to the NRHP.
Sadly, since I moved, I won’t be in The City to celebrate 450’s 100yr anniversary in 2029.
Thanks for the great video👍🏻🙂
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I cherish the magnificent old world architecture. The extravagant creativity conveys to me a culture enthroned with an appreciation and expectation for beauty that resonated in the interior sounds of those buildings, particularly the "cathedrals".
Soulless Grey boxes...
The switch to "Modernism Articture" sure saved alot of money, I think the bean counter had a big say. Modern buildings may be efficient, but they are a bit boring.
Remove "a bit"
@@ThePTBRULES I was trying to be diplomatic..... LOL
Yes! Mies Van Der Rohe developed a type of highrise architecture that was spare and machine-oriented yet rich and classically-inspired. By accident, his patron for the Lake Shore Drive apartments discovered that Mies's buildings were more economical to build than traditional styles. On the other hand, Seagram's HQ was expensive to build due to Mies's requirement for such a tall building to be finely crafted. Copycat buildings were less well built and copies of the copycats saved even more money by eliminating Mies's signature tiny wide-flanges on the facades (that were incorporated to "reveal" or emphasize internal structure and, simulataneoulsy, give observers a gauge of human scale). Once stripped away, facades were free to explore the cheapest solutions as well as the most efficient (thinnest) enclosure. I am a huge Mies fan, but even I would not want to see a city full of his creations. My rule of thumb is one Mies building per 1 million population and one Frank Gehry building per 1 billion population.
@@archiegoodwinjr One Skyscraper I really like "Please don't laugh" is the Shard in London. As for Mies Van Der Rohe, he must have never used a French Curve Set and I always liked the Farnsworth house. His work ages very well to say the least.
Very true, Ken. Hmm, I wonder if the fact that most people today are dull is a reflection with the environment in which they live.
So the fact that I am, indeed, dull isn't my fault. THANK GOD!!!
Francis Schaeffer in Escape from Reason, talked about how the popular views of a society are reflected in art and architecture and design.
Reject modernity, embrace tradition. EASY!
“They all look the same and is what makes cities less attractive….As a model, an urban sprawl is one of the ugliest developments humans have ever continued developing….Mass appeal of concrete foliage is attractive for a select few”
I was told by a professor once that the construction industry is reactive to trends and changes, not proactive. Unique designs often translate into higher financial or legal risk that many wish to avoid. Tried-and-true design methods are a cheap insurance of sorts.
that’s why europe is so beautiful because every cit has its own style
I really wish the Singer building in NYC was never destroyed. It looks so beautiful in the photos.
Modernist is ugly, ugly, ugly. Who wants every city to look the same? Certainly the beautiful buildings with ornamental design were technological creative buildings that would last forever. Modern buildings are simply blah zig zags that are built to be replaced by even more bizarre zig zags. Every architect today is bent on outdoing their peers. Modernism is simply a uniformity of control to make buildings and people plain and simple: no imagination,,,,no creativity...stick to the Matrix where worker bees are incapsulated in routine and stark reality.
It's Jewish!!
@BeauQuillen🤬 Spoken Like A True Anti-Semite 🤬
i do feel the need to point out that everyone who took louis sullivan's "form follows function" quote to mean "ornament is bougie and unnecessary" fundamentally misunderstood his point, which was that new methods of building should bring with them new forms of ornament, rather than recycling centuries old masonry motifs as had been the practice. this is evident in his own work, which is distinctly ornamental
Appreciate the broader look at architectural styles and cityscapes. It gives better insight into how planning, structure, and style influence us all.
The problem with modern buildings is not a matter of taste or style; they are cost-cutting exercise in visual form - cynically labeled as 'modernist' when they are closer to an anti-aesthetic. If form follows function, no wonder society is on it's arse. Modernism done right is just as visually appealing and rewarding as other styles. Slapping some baron steel and concrete together at the lowest cost price and labeling it modernist is an insult to that form of post-modernism and the hope they had for the future.
Really informative video, Ken. I've wondered about this. Downtowns can be boring. Now I know why. Are you going to comment on Brutalism?
This is Sprockets! With your host, Deiter!
Essentially, mid-century modern design ruined the character of our cities. Its ugly and I have no idea why people gravitate toward it.
They were easier and cheaper to construct no doubt. All of these modern buildings are as empty and boring as the creators came up with them. It all comes down to money.
I'm so sick of all the ugly tall towers! Every city looks cold, forbidding and overwhelming, like a science fiction movie set.
Not bad.
_Pretty_ Good essay.
The modern aesthetic is nice but I like what Niemeyer did in Brasilia. Adding curves to the style made it less severe, more flow.
I like some modern design. It's nice when it isn't the only thing you see though. Maybe architects will draw more from history.
For the last time, CBD != entire city
Philadelphia outside of Center City looks absolutely nothing like Chicago outside of The Loop or Los Angeles outside of DTLA
Great job Ken... please do a video on the origins of brutalism. I was recently in South Beach and observed how a lot of the later art decco buildings had trended towards brutalism by the later 1930s and early 1940s. Maybe the origins??
All cities look the same due to most cities being considered the economic and industrial hub in their day and most major companies planted roots in these cities which inturn drove up populations in most of the city centers (i.e., NY, chicago, LA, ATL, etc)…..
if I showed you three pictures of cities in Korea, Japan, and China, and you couldn't tell them apart, you'd have to be an idiot
it's incredibly easy to tell countries apart from the urban planning, cities do not all look the same, not even close
What the H happened to the Weatherhead school of management in Cleveland?
And brought us the stunning and beautiful ... strip malls!!! Yay! Lol!!
Good report, Ken!!!
they don't
I have the same opinion of modernism as I do brutalism. I admire it but don’t particularly like it. I find most modernism to be cold, soulless, and devoid of sustainable interest.
Communism...
almost all of the architecture and urban planning displayed in this vid was decided by capitalists in capitalist countries.
🕍🕌⛪️🏛️💒🏦
Not in Europe!
Yeah most modern art buildings are pretty ugly.
The Seafirst Bank Tower in Seattle was our 1st skyscraper. I think it uses a whole city block and includes a plaza. The black one from from Park Avenue is its clone. The building is classic and executive in appearance to my eye. Ty for the nice presentation from 'This House' today!
❤❤
Yeah, kinda but not really. CBDs all look the same ‘cause they got like, the same kinda businesses everywhere. But if you wanna see what’s different, just hit the hood. NY got all kinds-Black, Hispanic, Asian, whatever. The Bronx? Fire. Richmond Hill and Jackson Heights? Mad culture. HK got its own vibe too-janky little streets, messy-ass power lines, neon signs everywhere. That’s HK for you.
Intellectually, not, because the decor tells even about time frames, and no one would be visiting other places for vacations to escape the other place that looks monotonously the same. Opposites attract, the spice of life, creativity is to reflect what our Creator does, and continues to do, many planets are round but with differences. Not all animals are one look, and have their nature of characters that can very. Not all food looks the same. To be intelligent is to always appreciate variety in life but in moderation. Overwhelming tall skyscrapers vs a beautiful village on a mountainside, a tall building can have beautiful grandeur, they don’t have to all be beautiful, some of the old factories and warehouses had a neat industrial feel but even in their rugged state, they even had some Victorian elements, embellishments, the elevators, and so on. Small towns have the romantic feel, and the old Chicago buildings with some cultural things, but some of the commercial huge ways have overshadowed the old world that had things just fine, some commercial farms and things are necessary. But miss the some personally owned farms. Cute little towns and villages. Some who own too much land, when ten acres is plenty for doing many things, but some want to put big factories in. Climate change can result from that. So uniformity in certain doses.
🤥Who Are you Trying To Kid?🤥
Modernist architecture is Jewish!!
🤬"@BeauQuillen" Spoken Like A True Antisemite🤬
@@ObservaDome What a minute like WTF? I have Jewish people in my family, and I'm queer and Jewish. Modern architecture is an achievement of the Jewish people who fled NAZI Hitler Germany!!!