Across the country, new developments are starting to look the same, raising fears that cities are losing their unique charm. But in the current housing crisis, does that matter?
Charles Mudede was at the Post Pike Bar in Seattle in November, nursing a glass of white wine and having a heated discussion about a topic he felt strongly about: the state of new development in the city.
Last year, residential construction in Seattle hit a record high with over 13,000 units built, according to data from Seattle in Progress, an organization that tracks construction. Mr. Mudede, 53, who has lived in the city for 30 years, was expressing his distaste for some of those “architectural abominations.”
“What’s that new building?” he asked the bartender. “It’s an apartment building, but they put some bright blue, splashy thing on its facade.”
“The Motorworks building?” the bartender responded, referring to the luxury apartments a few blocks from the bar.
“No, no.”
“It’s the one with the juice bar on the bottom floor, right?” another person sitting at the bar asked.
“No, not that one.”
The guessing game went on for a few more minutes, with other patrons chiming in, until Mr. Mudede, a filmmaker and lecturer at the Cornish College of the Arts, sighed and said, “Nobody can tell because they all look the same.”
