Why is everything so ugly?
An essay arguing that “everything is ugly” in contemporary life – from architecture and interiors to cars, lighting and branding – prompts wide-ranging critiques of modern aesthetics. Commenters link today’s beige-and-gray, boxy, code-driven built environment to cost-cutting, mass production, zoning rules, resale-driven design and CAD tools that favor simple, repeatable forms, while others counter that beauty is subjective and many find modern minimalism or new buildings preferable. Underneath the debate are deeper tensions about nostalgia vs. change, the trade-off between housing quantity and visual quality, and whether a risk-averse, optimization-focused economy is quietly eroding variety and craftsmanship.
Overall reaction to the article
- Many found the essay overwrought, “word salad,” or performative; several stopped reading midway.
- Others felt it captures something real about US cities and suburbs, especially “cardboard” 5-over-1 apartments and LED-lit streets.
- Some criticized the lack of images: hard to know what the author finds ugly, and the one pictured example looked fine or even good to some readers.
- A few saw the piece as “weaponized pessimism” that encourages a joyless, hyper-critical stance.
Beauty, taste, and subjectivity
- Strong disagreement over what’s ugly: some like brutalism, flat gray condos, or the hyper-minimal “millennial beige/gray” aesthetic; others find these depressing and prison-like.
- Several stress that beauty is subjective and generational; what’s “hideous” now may be romanticized later.
- Others argue some design principles (e.g., human scale, ornament, non-monochrome environments) are more universally pleasant than current trends.
Economics, norms, and regulation
- Repeated theme: ugliness is driven by cost-cutting and financial optimization.
- Developers aim for “neutral” looks to maximize resale and minimize the chance of turning buyers off.
- House flippers and staging professionals push gray, white, and generic finishes to appeal to the broadest market.
- Zoning, codes, and design commissions either:
- Enforce sameness and forbid interesting buildings, or
- Mandate faux-variety (e.g., single blocks forced to look like multiple fake façades), which many find worse.
- Some argue that when housing is scarce, “ugly but abundant” is preferable to “beautiful but scarce.”
Architecture, materials, and tools
- Debates over brutalism and communist-era blocks:
- Some see them as fast, cheap responses to rural-to-urban migration.
- Others link brutalism and communism to attempts to ignore human nature.
- Classical and marble-heavy architecture is praised by some but criticized by others as politically loaded or impractical under modern costs and regulations.
- CAD and mass manufacturing are blamed for boxy, rectilinear buildings and lack of ornament; copying templates is easier and cheaper than bespoke details.
Lighting, cities, and nostalgia
- Strong split on street lighting:
- Some miss sodium-vapor’s warm orange, claiming LEDs are harsh, bad for sleep, and over-bright.
- Others recall sodium lights themselves were once hated and prefer full-spectrum white LEDs.
- Broader point: people often romanticize the era they grew up in and resist newer aesthetics, whether in cities, cars, or interiors.