a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment
kleinbl00  ·  2083 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Our homes don’t need formal spaces

It's such a missed opportunity, though. I mean, every link she lists has some form of "nobody needs a formal dining room" and "modern homes have so much wasted space" yet we keep buying them.

I've found that any analyst who defaults to "because people are idiots" as an explanation of behavior really doesn't have much to add to the conversation. I mean, you wouldn't stay at a hotel with a tiny, shitty lobby either. "Control of space" has been a part of human culture since we lived in caves. Every architect and every armchair cook understands "work circles" in the kitchen yet when presented with misallocation of square footage, Kate Wagner (as always) goes to "because people are fucking idiots."

It's this weird form of reverse elitism: these people can afford a bigger house than I can therefore they suck. Why. Why do we keep buying space we aren't using. What could we do with that space instead. HOW do we increase the utility of our living space because fucking hell I think conversation pits are dope as shit but people like Kate Wagner are too busy chortling themselves to death to notice that they're exactly the solution to useless space they're so busy decrying.