From Bizarre To Downright Dangerous, Here Are 40 Architectural Fails That Deserve Public Shame

There's hardly any objective critique when it comes to shaming architecture. What looks tasteless and offensive to some might appear classy and attractive to others. Yet there are some types of buildings that get shamed online more often than others. 

Brutalist architecture, McMansions, and overly gimmicky contemporary buildings, or attempts at imitating established architects and their timeless style, for example. So, let's explore some of the biggest (according to the internet) architectural sins that people love to dunk on.

McMansions are one type of houses many people love to hate. What exactly are McMansions? It's almost like a mansion, but not quite. According to Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers and Consultants, they're large like mansions, but culturally as ubiquitous as McDonald's fast food restaurants.

From an aesthetic point of view, McMansions don't appeal to people because they lack symmetry. They often have bombastic entrances; they feature stretched columns and oversized pediments. They seldom adhere to any one architectural style, period, or geographical location. They're sort of an architectural salad.

It wouldn't be fair to say that everybody hates McMansions. On the contrary, some people are demolishing historic modernist buildings to make way for their large homes. Just last year, actor Chris Pratt got a lot of flack from netizens for demolishing Craig Ellwood's Zimmerman House.

The actor chose to get rid of the historic mid-century building to make way for his new 5,000-square-foot farmhouse and people trolled him relentlessly for basically "buying a Rothko for the frame." 

Yet Pratt and his family aren't the only ones demolishing historical mid-century Californian houses. There's a trend where people buy such estates and tear down the existing houses to build new McMansions in their place. Adrian Fine, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Conservancy, told WaPo that people see these as "valuable plots of dirt."

Environmental psychologist Sally Augustin describes McMansions as unamenable for human comfort. Due to their high ceilings, the foyers and 'great rooms' are quite formal and lack coziness. Because most of the rooms are not rectangular, they can be stressful for some people. Especially when you're trying to think of where to put the furniture.

McMansions are not from the world of high architecture. But they don't have to be: they're for the well-off suburbia. As Kriston Capps summarizes the sudden rise of McMansions for WaPo, tearing down historical houses by famous architects is a way to "[pit] elite aesthetics against conspicuous consumption."

Brutalist buildings have a very distinct style, but not many people would like to live in one. When we think Brutalism, it's often government buildings and post-Soviet countries that come to mind. After the 1970s, people began to see them as overpowering and cold, and associated them with the ills of society instead of thinking of them as uplifting icons.

Architecture can be funny, but when it's overdone, hardly anyone is laughing, at least in a good way. Take, for example, the "Big Basket" building in Ohio or the Dog Bark Park Inn that's shaped like a beagle. Although they might look fun for some, they don't really adhere to classic architecture design principles. Whether that's good or bad, we'll leave for you to decide.

We want houses to be pretty, sure, but shouldn't they also be comfortable, cozy, and, you know, feel like a home? More often than not, contemporary avant-garde houses sacrifice comfort for aesthetics. If you've followed our other posts about architecture shaming, you've probably seen structures that feature staircases that go nowhere, windows that don't open, and balconies that can't be accessed.

What do you think have been the biggest crimes against architecture in this list, Pandas? Don't be shy and let us know in the comments. And if you want to chuckle at some more awful architecture, check out our post about the "That's It, "I'm Architecture Shaming!" group where folks really don't hold back their criticism.