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McMansions - Define Them.


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Garris, the difference is that ranch houses aren't trying to be something other than a ranch house. They are what they are. McMansions ARE trying to be something they're not. Just because a 5,000 square foot home on a cul-de-sac has a mansard roof and a turret, doesn't make it a chateaux...but that's what we're supposed to see when we look at it.

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Garris, the difference is that ranch houses aren't trying to be something other than a ranch house.  They are what they are.  McMansions ARE trying to be something they're not.  Just because a 5,000 square foot home on a cul-de-sac has a mansard roof and a turret, doesn't make it a chateaux...but that's what we're supposed to see when we look at it.

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What about the "Spanish," "Tudor," and "Colonial" ranches of the '60s, '70s and early '80s? They were obviously trying to evoke something that did not exist in their context. Though I dislike McMansions, how is one form of historic mimicry dfifferent than another?

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What about the "Spanish," "Tudor," and "Colonial" ranches of the '60s, '70s and early '80s?  They were obviously trying to evoke something that did not exist in their context.  Though I dislike McMansions, how is one form of historic mimicry dfifferent than another?

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We didn't have those in SC where I grew up. A ranch was brick with asphalt shingles. But to be fair, the ranch house is a product born of the Southwest US, so I have no trouble with the mission look.

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That architecture dictionary site had the perfect definition, although the above works too...

A McMansion is essentially a "mainstream" home that excessively takes almost every architecture cue know to man that has come to represent "luxury," from almost every era of architecture, and crams them all without context or relation into the same home.  Its takes cues once meant to imply exclusivity and makes them ubiquitous, thus stripping them of their meaning and, to those who know architecture, looking something like a hideous caricature... 

The automotive equivalent might be if a carmaker took the headlights of a Jaguar, the C-pillar of a BMW, the grille and wheels of a Mercedes, the tufted seats of a Cadillac, the ride and handling of a Volvo, and the taillights of an Audi and crammed all those defining, exclusive cues into the same car and sold it for 1/3 rd the price...

What I've described above is essentially how Lexus started, which is why it rapidly became the perfect McLuxury car for the McMansion owner.  It's why car makers like BMW are trying so hard to change their look and design...  Because car makers from Hyundai, to Infiniti, to Lexus have lifted their historic defining traits. 

The McMansion, just like the Lexus, isn't about true heritage, authentic design, or exclusive engineering.  It's about being surrounded by as many cues as possible that scream, "You're successful!  You've made it!  You've got a lot of money!  You're better than the people around you."  It's a powerful, primal, Type-A impulse...  It's designed to appeal to a deep, animalistic aspect of man that says you're the head of your pack.  Like so much marketing in our society, it has the appeal of an addictive substance since it's designed to directly tap these primal impulses...

I'm convinced that part of the movement of people back to cities, restoring old mills and old homes, and renovating historic structures is a yearning for "authenticity" in an era of fake, mish-moshed, mixed message McMansions...

Thoughts?

- Garris

Providence, RI

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Deep! Very interesting insight into the pyschy of the american consumer. I definitely think your on to something! I think corporate america has brain washed americans to buy, buy, buy whatever garabage corporate america is selling to inflate there all important bottom line. and americans are finally saying no! to the garbage track housing and the horendous commute from suburbia.

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It's an abomination that suburbanites sell themselves for.  It's something that children grow up thinking they want because they're told that they want it, when they get older they do whatever they can to have a big house, big yard, big SUV and big debts at the sacrifice of any kind of culture or enjoyment of life beyond the narrow-minded ideals of material worship.  Seeing how most people can't really afford a nice, big house, they settle for just big (the same way a Big Mac value meal isn't really good, just filling).  If you look at a house and you see excess for it's own sake and you have trouble keeping your last meal down while imagining what sort of hollow, commercialized, inhuman, exsistance must be responsible for worshiping a multi-story tumor, that's a McMansion.  It's the physical embodiment of a void in somebody's life that they don't know how to fill. 

Related topics: High divorce rates, chronic obesity, resource shortages.

They're not the problem, they're a symptom of much larger problems.

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you're right, moonshield is the one who doesn't know what he's talking about. Obesity is related due to the simple fact that most McMansions are built in the suburbia. Correlation is that people do not walk or exercise as much as they should not necessarily because there lazy but rather there are no sidewalks. And since they must drive twenty minutes accomplish simply tasks they typicall have less time to make a home cooked lower calorie meal and are force to eat at fast food establishment such as McDonalds.

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McMansions are huge poorly scaled poorly detailed monsters that have no architectural character. Many materials are imitation. They have massive roofs but becuase they usualy use trusses to support them there is no attic(it is filled with structure). Sometimes these fake attics have fake dormers and fake windows. Speaking of windows they are usually vinyl with fake window pane divisions. You should have at least a 3 car garage or your neighbors are unlikely to talk to you ( And what ever you do do not park in front of the house). Your landscaping probably is an attempt at using every plant known to man in swurvy curvy land forms. Top notch McMansions will have a few bolders thown in as an accent. Your front door will have giant 2 story plastic colums in some kind of suedo Greek form (without any of the Greek principles of scale and detail) This door will never be used since you will always enter through the Garage.

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so whats wrong with these? as apposed to a bungalow being all great and all?

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McMansions are supersized, generic, boring, faux reproductions of many "styles" of architecture all blended into one big faceless neighborhood in anywhere USA- much like the McDonalds chain, you can find them everywhere and you always know what you're getting.

Basically they are for the nouveaux-riche that desire what they think will give them status and set them apart in suburban society, but in reality it just assimilates them with everyone else of the same status. Price has nothing to do with it, but taste and lifestyle do. In most American cities nowadays, you can buy a Mcmansion in the exurbs for 250,000-500,000 but if you want a classic historic home that is half the size in the nicer inner city neighborhoods you will pay that much and probably much more. I think there is (finally) a backlash on these eyesores as people now are longing for something more than just an impressive facade. Many people now want substance in their lifestyles- like a community-oriented neighborhood, short commuting times, and being able to actually walk to something.

My personal pet peeve on Mcmansions is not only the ugliness and generic quality of the structures, but the fact that acres and acres of land are being gobbled up by these senseless developments at an alarming rate with no thought to the infrastructure or environmental impact on the community.

Give me a 1000 square foot bungalow anyday!

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you're right, moonshield is the one who doesn't know what he's talking about. Obesity is related due to the simple fact that most McMansions are built in the suburbia.

Intersting idea. Lets blame obesity on a housing style. Im pretty sure a majority of obese people are below the income level of which one gets into the possibility of living in a 'mcmansion'.

Studies show obese American are approximately half as wealthy as thin ones and that women who married into higher status are predictably thinner than women who married into lower status.

You, my friend, know little about what you are talking about.

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Intersting idea. Lets blame obesity on a housing style. Im pretty sure a majority of obese people are below the income level of which one gets into the possibility of living in a 'mcmansion'.

Studies show obese American are approximately half as wealthy as thin ones and that women who married into higher status are predictably thinner than women who married into lower status.

You, my friend, know little about what you are talking about.

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I was refering to suburbia the environment in which Mcmansions are located. Although I admit that the topic of obesity off topic of what the definition a Mcmansion is I am sorry. But since we are now discussing this topic. I would like to add some insight if you don't mind. I do believe there is a strong correlation of suburbia to obesity. Since the 1950's americans have been moving in large numbers to suburbia oddly enough the prevalence (the total # of cases) of medical conditions related to a lack of physical activity has increased. A lack of physical activity is problematic due to the idea basic metabolism principles. i.e. the body is a pack rat of sense it doesn't like to throw things away. For example when an individual has 2,000-4,000 Kcal/day diet the glucose ingested then subsquently digest is sent to the liver for processing and the it's the liver's job to store its own supply of glucose for periods of low blood sugar. But it also sends it to the rest of the body to be used in the citric acid cycle to make ATP(high energy phospate bonds) important in the electron transport system(ets) So, when you have a lack of physical activity which is seen very commonly in suburbia due to a lack of sidewalks and extensive commutes everywhere. The glucose is then shipped to the adipose tissue to be stored as Fat and to be used at a later point in time but that time never comes so, this storage mechanism leads to Obesity. So, my friend it is merely elementary to find the correlation between a location(suburbia) and a Medical conditon(obesity,hypertension,heart disease, diabetes mellitus...). I think maybe it is you who doesn't know what they are talking about. And the studies you refered too I would like the publication and author. thanks.

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besides being common sense (what rich guy is going to marry a obese woman)

Zagorsky JL. Is Obesity as Dangerous to Your Wealth as to Your Health? Res Aging 2004;26:130-152. (Read in PDF http://roa.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/26/1/130).

Everything is opinion of course and statistics can lead you to believe what ever the publisher wants you to believe.

lack of sidewalks

Maybe in the north (I am from Grand Rapids now in Charlotte) but not in newly developing areas in which there are some plans for growth. In areas where there is enough money to go around and corporations are not leaving every other week and bringing their precious jobs along with them. Places where there is actually a growing tax base.

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besides being common sense (what rich guy is going to marry a obese woman)

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You want examples? I'll take you on a little tour of rich, but obese folks living right down your way in Weddington.

This is an interesting topic, though. Beyond obesity, the American mindset of excersise is twisted. There's a great example in a book titled A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. He tells of the woman in his gym who complained bitterly about having to park her SUV a block away from the facility, forcing her to walk an extra block to go work out. Hillarious.

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This Lovely (Southern California) 2413 Sq. Ft. McMiniMansion has Craftsman styled garage doors, an overall Mediterranean look with a large Victorian arched window (not sure about the little railing in front of that window, but I'm sure it's functional) thick colonial molding and no yard. It sits on a 4500 Sq. Ft. lot and is within walking distance of the neighborhood McLake (with blue McDye) and only 1 1/2 miles to the nearest McMiniMall. It boasts zero-maintenance side yards (as they don't exist). And yes, it's a bargain at only $870.000.

SRUH6C.jpg

Southern CA is full of these and they're gobbling up the foothills of the local mountains. Coyotes and mountain lions are often seen roaming the streets of these communities. It's a sad state of affairs indeed.

:(

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This Lovely (Southern California) 2413 Sq. Ft. McMiniMansion has Craftsman styled garage doors, an overall Mediterranean look with a large Victorian arched window (not sure about the little railing in front of that window, but I'm sure it's functional) thick colonial molding and no yard. It sits on a 4500 Sq. Ft. lot and is within walking distance of the neighborhood McLake (with blue McDye) and only 1 1/2 miles to the nearest McMiniMall. It boasts zero-maintenance side yards (as they don't exist). And yes, it's a bargain at only $870.000.

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:rofl: Nice description, you sound like one of those smarmy realtors. The saddest thing is that some people might find your clearly sarcastic description to be appealing. :rolleyes:

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These are very interesting discussions. I say "these" because there really are two here--McMansions design and the Suburbia-Obesity link.

I have no documentation to support this, only a personal observation; however, I don't think it would be difficult to find substantiation. I have lived and travelled through Europe and I live in a US city. I strongly believe that city living promotes better fitness, for the simple fact that you tend to walk more. It's lifestyle, baby. Everything relates.

For example--if housing in the city is more "expensive," then maybe you decide to not own a car; so you use public transit, which you have to walk to. Even if you do have a car, you may choose to walk or bike for more of your little errands because it's actually more convenient to do that, because parking is a beotch or whatever; or the dry cleaners is "only a block" past the subway or something.

People who live in cities tend to walk more, simple as that. Especially in Europe, where the cities' people are out strolling just for the sake of strolling.

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These are very interesting discussions. I say "these" because there really are two here--McMansions design and the Suburbia-Obesity link. 

I have no documentation to support this, only a personal observation; however, I don't think it would be difficult to find substantiation.  I have lived and travelled through Europe and I live in a US city. I strongly believe that city living promotes better fitness, for the simple fact that you tend to walk more.  It's lifestyle, baby.  Everything relates.

For example--if housing in the city is more "expensive," then maybe you decide to not own a car; so you use public transit, which you have to walk to. Even if you do have a car, you may choose to walk or bike for more of your little errands because it's actually more convenient to do that, because parking is a beotch or whatever;  or the dry cleaners is "only a block" past the subway or something. 

People who live in cities tend to walk more, simple as that. Especially in Europe, where the cities' people are out strolling just for the sake of strolling.

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YES!!!

And this is documented. I beleive the most suburban, sprawled county in America, (some county outside of Cleveland), is the "heaviest" in America, while New York County, the densest, is the "thinnest." I'll try and find this online somewhere, I know I've read it.

Now I know someone will say that its because new yorkers are obsessed with image, or some crap like that, but I strongly beleive that suburbs are a major factor in obesity. It's simple: suburbs are CAR-oriented, and cars require almost no physical activity to operate/get to. Cities are transit/pedestrian oriented, transit requires you to at least walk to stations/stops, etc., and walking (which is the most cost-efficient, environmentally friendly way to transport) obviously burns calories.

A number of states know this too, and have began "healthy infrastructure" campaigns to get facilities for bikes and pedestrians built in order to help with the fight against obesity. New York state has the initiative for healthy infrastructure (http://www.albany.edu/~ihi/) and Rhode Island has the initiative for a healthy weight.

IMO, our diets are only half the problem. Our transportation facilities and "drive everywhere" mentalities are the other half.

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