Architects oppose the kinds of buildings that most people like. (I’ve wondered if one could further corroborate this by using Flickr/Instagram or similar to investigate the building traits that correlate with photo frequency.)
Does the public prefer traditional architecture? Half a century of surveys find: worksinprogress.co/issue/do-… - Between 60 and 95 percent prefer traditional architecture; - This pattern holds across gender, class, race, nationality and political views; - More traditional densification schemes seem to attract remarkably high levels of survey support; - Laypeople and design professionals respond dramatically differently, with professionals far more favourable to modern styles. Research is still at an early stage, and many questions remain. Personally, I am particularly interested in how the public would respond to a non-traditional but richer and more decorative style? I think they might like it, but we don’t have hard evidence yet. But the results are already puzzling. Why do people end up buying buildings that are so different to the buildings they say they prefer? How did we end up in this odd situation? What can we do about it? Read more in @RobertKwolek's definitive review of architectural visual preference surveying.

Sep 11, 2026 · 7:46 PM UTC

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Replying to @patrickc
One metric of public taste in architecture is that how difficult it is to get a reservation for a courthouse wedding correlates with how elaborately traditional the municipal building is. The longest wait in California is for San Francisco's 1915 Beaux Arts City Hall: stevesailer.net/p/is-there-n…
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Replying to @patrickc
You have to realize there is a different set of incentives for architects and the people who use the buildings Architects often want awards, notoriety and praise Its very hard to get that by building the 47th building that has a nearly identical style to the other 46
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Replying to @patrickc
Non-experts are limited in their knowledge capacity in aesthetic evaluation, and therefore rely more on familiarity. However, experts use further top-down processing, using broader knowledge for aesthetic evaluation, which enables tolerance for ambiguity and complexity … ½
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Replying to @patrickc
Do they? It's usually that the building on the right is vastly more expensive to build and the client would be unwilling to pay.
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Replying to @patrickc
Yeah the public love traditional architecture, surveys on Americans favourite buildings reflect it overwhelmingly.
Replying to @GrayConnolly
Yep. At the time of the order I recall looking up the most loved buildings in the US, according to popular sentiment, something like 47 out of the top 50 were neoclassical or Art Deco Literally none were contemporary/mid century modern.
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Replying to @patrickc
why do they oppose them?
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Replying to @patrickc
Differing tastes and incentives between architects, stakeholders, and general public
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Replying to @patrickc
I'd be amused to find the core aesthetic conceit behind The Fountainhead was just wrong
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Replying to @patrickc
working as an Architecture designer for multiple years, a big portion of design is already determined by zoning regulations, building code, client's budget, a design that would be favorable to the neighbors so it doesn't get rejected in public hearings and much more constraints. In fact architects unfortunately have very little say in how vast majority of the projects look.
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Replying to @patrickc
architects get graded by other architects, the public never sits on that jury, so the mismatch is just an incentive problem
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Replying to @patrickc
There's a view among the academics that traditional architecture is white supremacy
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Replying to @patrickc
It's money. Time to build x cost to build. We don't have slaves anymore to spend years carving columns with angels and birds. Materials today are easier to work with and lighter, so you need less foundation. It's partly a taste thing, but taste has a lot to do with those choices anyway.
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Replying to @patrickc
i am so tired of the tradslop, though. some modern architecture, geometric buildings, minimalism etc. can look very appealing
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Replying to @patrickc
Its because most architecture schools are infected with critical theory. They don't teach students to design for people, but to instead tear down social customs and norms. Critical Theory is retarded for a variety of reasons, and architecture is a visible manifestation of that.
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Replying to @patrickc
Flickr data would be a banger dataset. People only photograph what they actually like.
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Replying to @patrickc
I think architects tend to like all buildings.
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Replying to @patrickc
What’s the point of only judging architecture on their building’s facade? Ask any office or comercial developer and they would demand open plans, which is a modernist development. Private clients demand the same. Ornamental facades are more expensive, if you like em pay for them.
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Replying to @patrickc
The second building is the ugliest piece of shit ever. Its only redeeming feature is that it’s novel. And its not “architects” its limited building opportunities leads to buildings needing to be the most safe option. Theres no competition on appearance since theres no competition
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Replying to @patrickc
I’m wondering how those buildings differ on the interior. My guess is architects have a better intuition for lighting, floor plans, and their practicality than most people
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Replying to @patrickc
Sometimes thinking we should have a shadcn kind of thing for architecture, the baseline level is so low. There are proportions between sizes, window to surface %, angles etc that have been nailed a long time ago. I remember learning how architects would still measure up this particular set of stairs in Florenze, which supposedly were the perfect proportions for stairs, even though they were from the Renaissance.
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Replying to @patrickc
Architects dont actually decide buildings, their clients do. And mostly that means minimising cost. Like everything else in the world. I'd imagine their personal taste is as varied as there are persons.
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Replying to @patrickc
Most people's tastes is based on what they know, so fairly conservative. Architects want to try new things, and of course want to win architectural prizes which don't go to old fashioned buildings.
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Replying to @patrickc
All buildings, residential and commercial, should have a minimum ceiling height of 13ft. (Climate: Based on 100% renewable power such as solar first) All classical buildings had this sine qua non. Forces architects, & their superior, civil engineers, 2create better structures.
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Replying to @patrickc
If its not done by the small percent of good modern day architects then its shit and an older building is better OMA BIG Herzog
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Replying to @patrickc
And many planning commissions (such as SF's) explicitly ban a lot of these features or require you to break up massing. But nobody pays attention to these rules so the developers get blamed.
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Replying to @patrickc
I mean maybe the billionaire class should invest in said buildings
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Replying to @patrickc
Architects have chosen to be artists rather than engineers. Which means they value novelty more than quality. They see copying architectural styles from the past that are popular like a new artist copying Picasso. It's pastiche, therefore bad.
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Replying to @patrickc
Modern architecture is extremely difficult to design. It’s “simplicity” can be best described by Picasso’s The Bull. However, every architect tries to be a “modern architect” when in fact only a few are truly capable. It’s not that modern architecture is not liked or that it doesn’t look good. It’s that most that attempt to design it don’t do it justice.
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Replying to @patrickc
I’d always assumed it was cost difference driving this in a world where construction is relatively far more expensive - is it not?
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Replying to @patrickc @collision
i wonder if there’s gap between like to see and like to buy
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Replying to @patrickc @collision
Similar circumstance for art and museums. Do curated galleries actually reflect what people like online (IG/Flickr)?
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Replying to @patrickc
Cost is part of the building process. We build what we can afford.
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Replying to @patrickc @phl43
Naturally, otherwise they would be out of work. Not much to do at all on traditional architecture to bolster their own profiles.
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