It has to be cantilevered to fit the most possible living space into whatever area is allowed by the city's building code. Relevant bits are that a property is usually allowed to project out above the sidewalk (makes sense) and some building regulations give incentives for green space / private balconies (their heart was in the right place). A pile of arbitrary cubes is the best way to cram a bunch of rectangular floor plans into whatever that space is. Somebody discovered that mismatched siding makes that look intentional, rather than a big grey blob, and now they're everywhere.
Every classic architectural style was an over-used samey design when it was relevant. If these weren't almost always made of the cheapest materials and only built to last ~20 years, they'd be fine.
Gentrification exists because landlords exist, and has nothing to do with architectural style. It's okay to be annoyed at the buildings as a symbol of gentrification, but remember not to get distracted from the real enemy.
Why?
ask the property developers
But property developers aren't capable of sentient thought.
Just look at their handiwork.
"handiwork"?
imagine thinking they put any work into this shit other than the underpaid intern recycling the same design over and over again lmao
It has to be cantilevered to fit the most possible living space into whatever area is allowed by the city's building code. Relevant bits are that a property is usually allowed to project out above the sidewalk (makes sense) and some building regulations give incentives for green space / private balconies (their heart was in the right place). A pile of arbitrary cubes is the best way to cram a bunch of rectangular floor plans into whatever that space is. Somebody discovered that mismatched siding makes that look intentional, rather than a big grey blob, and now they're everywhere.
Every classic architectural style was an over-used samey design when it was relevant. If these weren't almost always made of the cheapest materials and only built to last ~20 years, they'd be fine.
Gentrification exists because landlords exist, and has nothing to do with architectural style. It's okay to be annoyed at the buildings as a symbol of gentrification, but remember not to get distracted from the real enemy.