lads and lassies, there will be no new video this saturday, but we will be back to the weekly vids in january. stick around for that and more streams in 2025! 📺 check out the newly hired fortune teller here: chon.digital & music here: soundcloud.com/chondigital thank you for all the kind comments, hope to see you all in good health next year. god bless us freaks.
They don't WANT you to hang out there, even for a couple minutes. That way, you're less likely to make a mess that won't get cleaned up. Notice how there's only one trash can in these restaurant interiors.
@@D..S.. ive never once been in a fast food restaurant that told me to leave in half an hour, i just went to culvers a few days ago and ate tf outta that shit in the culvers and noone batted an eye
Well, honey, it ain’t no shocker folks don’t sit down in fast food joints no more. Everybody’s busier than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs, and with drive-thrus, delivery apps, and to-go bags, it’s just easier to grab your food and skedaddle. Bless it, the pandemic done flipped everything upside down, and now folks are just used to eating at home in their comfy pants. And those play places that used to keep the young’uns entertained? Most of ‘em are gone or shrunk down so small, they ain’t worth a hill of beans. Let’s be real, though-those bright lights and plastic chairs ain’t exactly inviting, like sitting at Aunt May’s kitchen table. Folks also worry about cleanliness, ‘cause nobody wants to set their sweet tea on a sticky table. Nowadays, there are so many other places to grab a quick bite, from cute little diners to grocery stores with hot meals. And with all these fancy apps that let you order ahead, you can grab your food faster than a hound on a ham bone. It’s a shame, though-fast food spots used to be where folks would sit and visit, but now they’re just a pit stop for our go-go-go world. Well, darlin’, I’ll tell ya, it’s true a lot of folks don’t sit and eat in fast food places much anymore, but I still do with my kids, and it’s just fine by me. I mean, it’s nice not having to clean up crumbs or worry about a mess at home! And honestly, with fewer people coming in, there’s usually just one trash can to deal with, which makes it easier on the staff and probably better for the environment too. It’s all about keepin’ things simple these days, and that’s just the way the world’s turned. But for me, sittin’ down and lettin’ someone else handle the cleanup is still a little treat!
That's all post modern architecture theory. Any building is just a building, to be easily repurposed from one occupant to the next as the building generalized purpose is its design. Post modernism is designed for bean counters being as cheap as possible requiring the minimum amount of manhours to complete. The reason we like the old school bars with beat up wooden paneling that looks like it will give you a splinter if you look at it for too long, and why folks like going to the cheesecake factory and ancient buildings in general is because architecture used to be a mix of math, science, and naturalism meant for promoting the best qualities of humanity to come forward. (There's some psychology things that explain this but I don't remember what they are, if someone else can go further into detail on it please do)
Makes sense especially as someone seeing it happen in real time. Right now there's an old CVS that is as minimalist as possible in it's design. It closed down 2 years ago and is being repurposed into a Korean BBQ joint. Much of the building is retained as workers only have to knock out the sliding doors and those triangular "roof tops." Which are just thin walls standing in the air for aesthetics.
@@chon.digitalif you want another similar topic to this one for a video, User Interface and how it went from MS-DOS to windows 3.1-2000, XP, Vista/7, and it's current iteration of 8/8.1/10/11. It went from "this is all we can do and every byte is sacred" MS-DOS to figuring out how UI systems work in Windows 3.1-2000, to letting technology be beautiful era (XP through 7), and our current era where the operating system is solely a mandatory obstical between you and what you want to do, devoid of character, soul, and astetics beyond functionality is king.
Designing your restaurant to compete against another business is what makes places stand out, not just their iconic mascots and logos, but the way the structures are built and design to stand outside of the box is what made it feel "humane" and "natural" as you've mentioned here. When buildings start to look more like Government "DMVs" or dare I say, Medical & "Hospitality" places, that's when people absolutely hate it. For me it's more about seeing the medical equipment, oxygen bags, syringes, and first air equipment that makes me nervous. Other than that, I personally like the white lights because it actually shows what the person's true skin tone actually is, unlike the tungsten or yellow/orange lights that makes you feel right at home.
No, postmodern architecture tried to be whimsical and pay tribute to the past. This is what I call "neo-modern": it revives the bland functionalism of modernist architecture, and kind of flubs it.
Well, from a business/cost cutting stand point, it does make the building last long and not have to tear down the whole thing repeatedly just because the business can't afford the rent or lease costs of the place.
Where I live, the example I always think of is Pizza Hut. It used to be this cool, red roofed, 3 room fun place with good food. It had the big main room, a buffet room, and a party room, it was super cool. Now, it is this small gray box, and it is freezing in there. I went there once because I had a free pizza coupon and I'm like "Alright, I might check out the redesign and have a pizza." I went in there and it was cold, the food was cold, and it was so small. The designs of buildings used to be so much cooler. Remember when restaurants had video game console displays with the greasiest controllers known to man? Remember when they had TVs you could watch? Another thing was the kid meal toys. It used to be actually cool figures and knick knacks, now it is usually just cardboard.
It may apply to the Hut but someone who worked in industrial construction manufacturing said that the reason that McDonald's did away with the red roofs was because the chemical that made the color was pretty toxic and was banned by the EPA. They only make the color special order now and it is really expensive.
@@amentco8445 I concur, the US still has colourings/dyes in foods that are outright banned and deemed as unsafe in the rest of the world no problem, I doubt paints were a problem in their eyes. It's likely a cost cutting measure more than anything over there.
Businesses have awful buildings, apartments look awful, logos and brandings all look bland and dull, everything in our society is removing any trace of personality to seek "minimalism" and just removing all human soul to save a buck and take your buck. I hate what our world has become
it'll bounce back eventually. i see more companies incorporating gradients and shadows to their designs and moving towards a less flat future. the flat trend has lasted a looong time but it will be gone eventually
The lack of comfortable chairs and the overall lack of welcoming environment is intentional. They don't want you to feel comfortable or welcome, they don't actually want you in there at all. This really took off during the pandemic, and businesses liked it, you're supposed to order on the app or at a kiosk, tap to pay, take your crap and leave. Lather, rinse, repeat. It keeps them from needing to hire a lot of employees and it keeps tables turning and cars moving. Because these places are all corporate now, there is only one goal, to make more money than last quarter, to increase the value of the stock for shareholders.
That Cheesecake Factory comment hit pretty close to home. That's how I feel going to Bass Pro shop. I'm always in awe of the craftsmanship and ambience.
I think it looks like this because it's in correspondence to how we don't view fast food as a place to be at anymore. People used throw kids birthday parties at McDonald's. Can you imagine that now? Everyone just gets their slop and leaves.
Maybe people would still have birthday parties at McDonald’s if it was a service they still provided. Customer tastes change, but it’s the company that ultimately cuts a service or not.
I remember going to a Burger King in the 90s for my sister's birthday party. There was a small indoor play area, the staff brought out a cake, everyone had crown hats on and overall it was just a fun vibe. And there was actual color in the interior design. It wasn't some warehouse with concrete floors and exposed ceilings. And like you said, a lot of people nowadays just want to order their bag of grease and peel out of the drive through like they just did a drug deal.
I try to hang out and eat my food but half of them won't let you charge your phone and have like a 30 minute time limit. Shove your food down and leave I guess. No one wants poor people around so everyone suffers with locked bathrooms and they even took out the soda fountain.
Old architecture told you unambiguously what you were looking at and what you might expect inside with immediately recognizable geometry & color schemes. With postmodern "design", you'd have no idea you were looking at, say, a cafe unless you saw the bland, minimalist logo slapped on one of the grey and/or brown walls or looked inside. It's like we all forgot that mankind has relied on visual cues even before we discovered fire.
It makes the workers even more depressed! Imagine being stuck in those dull, grey boxes for 8 hours a day. Old McDonald's had this really fun, colourful and child friendly vibe that made it more than just a place to buy burgers, it was a trip. Staff seemed way happier too.
I find the term "minecraft buildings" to be an absolutely hilarious way to describe this type of architecture, and that's the soul reason I clicked on this video
You just gave me fond memories of the Pizza Hut in everybody's town that's been a Dollar General, a Family Video, a bank, a blood center, a flea market.... Everybody has one of those old ass Pizza Hut or Taco Bell buildings that were never renovated.
It's just that this weird western tendency to distance itself from its roots and cultures and make everything as bland and accessible as possible. Utterly soulless and boring.
I mean my country is building their new capital city with only a few references of culture embedded to it's design and the rest of it looks bland, international modern, it's not just western countries
I will say that whenever I walk into a Mexican restaurant, it doesn’t feel lifeless and soul-crushing. They actually put an effort into the interior architecture and it shows.
@@stlfatman depends on the context, it may have been cool and unique 1-2-3 decades ago when every restaurant and/or strip mall and/or single family home had the same kitsch shingled roof design, but now modern minecraft cube builds are overplayed and on top of it less cozy, i think a third way should be possible
glad to see someone else talking about this. 8:15 yes denny's looks better than almost every restraunt and building in the entirety of where I come from
I always call these things “gulags”. There were 3 giant bland looking apartments built in my city. Everyone there was sketchy as hell, no landscaping and only parking lot, still $2600 for a two bedroom 😂
7:30 Now I'm instantly reminded of that one SpongeBob episode. What was the place called? Tentacle Acres or Tentacle Oaks I think. And that was back in Golden Era of SpongeBob!
I work in the field of architecture and in one of the firms I used to work for - I drafted construction documents for McDonald's remodels. Basically many of the cool and unique McDonald's that used to exist, as well at the "regular" but still distinct mansard roof McDonald's of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, got gutted out and the exteriors turned into flat gray boxes. I absolutely hated the new designs but a low level architectural designer like me had no say. I've since grown sick of a lot of "modernism" which ironically, has dominated architecture for over a century, and have gained a lot more interest in more classical designs.
In my town my wife and I had our first date in one of the old red roof Pizza Huts. Several years later it was demolished, replaced with a car wash, and a new Pizza Hut just like these buildings was built. We rewarded that move with never eating there again. They recently shut down due to lack of participation, and I say it's deserved. Nostalgia has real repercussions sometimes.
These are basic, sterile environments that lack any sort of personality or charm. They're spaces for NPCs to interact, a game lobby for the local Mii population. What a despicable waste of human thought all in the name of "one size fits all".
Turns out beauty isnt in the eye of the beholder. It also turns out that a society which is blatantly anti family values will create lifeless, soulless architecture.
Property is far more valuable long term than buildings. Buildings are put up now with the expectation that the area will be frequently rezoned for taller/bigger more subdivide-able and valuable structures. They are made to be destroyed and no one will care when they are.
You're too young to remember it, but _Family Matters_ was one of those family friendly sitcoms which used a real house (+stage) in a real city (Chicago suburbs) so fans could relate to the characters more. The pan out shot from the intro always got to me and still does because it's a cozy environment. Give it a look when you have a moment. WELL that house was torn down some years ago and in its place was built this big and ugly condo place. It's cold to look at inside and out. Black/white/gray aesthetic with minimalist design on the inside. It's quite the antithesis of what a family home used to be. To add insult to injury, someone thought it was a good idea to stick a plaque up on one of the exterior corners recognizing the place as the former location of _Family Matters_ house. Boy did that tic a lot of people off. Meanwhile (as far as I know) the _Full House_ home is still up. "Minecraft" Condos have been popping up in my area in the last 15 years and it's not cool. It's northern Indiana where not everyone's raking in the big money. Rooms in these places start at $1500. It's fine for doctors and pharmacists to afford but not the common worker. As a result many of them remain vacant. What a waste of space.
dude that's another thing i've noticed: tv sitcom sets look so much less believable now. that's a real bummer about the house being torn down, as if chicago needs more grey squares. that new building is evil, holy hell how did anyone approve that.
@Duckz4bucks Still standing and can be yours for the low price of $6.5M with the option of concrete panels with handprints/signatures of the cast members. $5M because it's a famous house in San Francisco + $1.5M because the producer bought/renovated it with "modern touches".
Thank you! Here I thought this 1970's cubism in goth greyscale was what the next generation wanted to see, but turns out it's corporate elite rule. Rise up! Tell them, "Heck no, we won't go" to your establishment that looks like a 1990's Playstation game with no budget. All the best & blessings be, power to the people, God bless.
There was a car dealership in my small town, it looked like when it was built, somebody cared about it. It went out of business around the recession. Every time I drive by it, whenever I cruise through my hometown, I die a little inside knowing it'll eventually be torn down and probably have one of these ugly postmodernist hellscape apartments put on its spot.
Dude this video is really high quality and I can tell you put a lot of effort onto it and tried to make it as entertaining and audience worthy of watching. The concept itself is really interesting, combining a topic lots of people have heard of (minecraft) and something some people probably haven't ever even thought of (fast food architecture, probably since they just want to go in, grab their food, and dip) is really unique and creative, something you don't see a lot these days TLDR: Good video and idea!
Last time I visited a McDonald's was yesterday, and the only characteristic about the restaurant was the freaking logo, everything else looked like those minimalistic wood house with glass separating the kitchen in a 2025 magazine, that's DEF NOT the 2005 intense red and yellow McDonald's I remember in my childhood!
If I took a shot every time you compared the buildings to Garry's Mod, I still wouldn't be drunk enough to cope with how horrendous restaurant architecture has become.
FINALLY SOMEONE USES WII FORECAST CHANNEL MUSIC. THANK YOU. SUBBED JUST FOR THAT! Your taste in music is incredible love the hg/ss azalea town and OR/AS pokemart theme
America has two types of buildings, corporate and dull, or wooden and outdated. Go anywhere in Europe/the UK and you'll see countless styles of buildings, often multiple types in a single town or street that somehow work well together. It's the US that has taken the dull and boring approach to everything and it's a trend I hope the rest of us don't copy. My mate from Upstate NY was on a video call with me a few days ago, went to Mc Donald's and that building was so... dull and lifeless, I showed her our local one and the one further out, and both of them had a completely different vibe and style we've had there for years. The uniforms are the same dull, grey and "smart" types, but the restaurants are just as full of life as they were 20 years ago. Why does the US business look(and taste apparently) worse in the US than it does overseas?
It doesnt help because EVEYONE starts SCREAMING just to talk over the dumb music making it even worse... AND DONT YOU DAR GET ME GOIN ABOUT MARIAH CARRIE IN THE WINTER>
Funny you mentioned that because I don't have my headphones on in those places, incase if I get beat up or someone asks me where the heck everything is and such.
It's that noxious mixture of brutalist, functionalist, and minimalist architecture, plus a big, heaping dollop of postmodernism. Gone are the days of Streamline Moderne, Raygun Gothic, and Googie architecture. Nothing has any character, uniqueness, or specialness anymore.
It's one thing to make new buildings look like this.... but how much money was spent on the tear down or remodelling of existing buildings to look like garbage. They could have saved that and kept their prices low.
This is what I call "Corporate Buildings". I just want things with personality, character and soul! These buildings of today, aren't what I want these days!
You're right. I hate that these buildings have no soul or personality. The interiors have no color (usually). The new logos are all boring. I hate it. I have even left feedback on this. Not that they'd care, but I hope others do too. The minimalist, gray/beige/exposed ceiling with concrete floor look is AWFUL. The exteriors look cheap and awful. It's just plain ugly and awful. If anyone watching this is in charge of any of this for any of these companies, please go back to more pleasant architecture and design. Really. It's that bad.
My first job was at a chain pizza place with that high unfinished ceiling and boy- if you think trying to have a conversation as a CUSTOMER sucks, imagine trying to take orders while you can barely hear someone mere inches away from your face. And for some reason all of my coworkers thought I was disabled for not being able to hear people?? Maybe they were just used to the echoing, but it made me feel crazy.
The Modern Buildings are Square, Inspiring Minecraft Builders ✅ The RUclipsr is a Minecrafter ✅ The Buildings are Minecraft ✅ The Construction worker are Minecrafters ✅ And the best of all, The World is Turning into Minecraft. ✅
Iirc the reason its so plain and soulless is because they're made to be essentially another kind of commodity for companies to sell between each other. One company closes down there, another one can easily set up shop there because the building itself (unlike in the past with the iconic pizza hut roof places) has absolutely no identity to any company its just a box with a few windows and doors
buildings being cool back in the day went so tragically underappreciated. pizza hut roofs were dope as hell. every fast food place had personality. the paper cup aesthetic in a taco bell, the burger chairs in mcdonalds with the horrifying apple pie tree... but everything is like the same classroom in a school with different paper holiday decorations. every building has the same layout, same overall color scheme, with the exception of whatever cheap tacky shit they slapped on the wall in the hopes to gain some identity.
I usually don't say things like this, but I could've sworn that people my age and younger (millennials and gen z) were all about minimalism about 10 years ago. I know that 10 years isn't exactly a short amount of time, but for you guys to get bored of minimalism so fast says to me that it was just a fad and companies took you guys too seriously.
I will subscribe if you promise to keep doing rants like this. Being a lifelong architecture buff, I started being sickened by the cookie cutter McMansion scourges on planet earth (think the ugly sprawl of Atlanta/Charlotte/ or any other southern ‘new’ city). And it was literally yesterday that I was tirading about how all of the fast food buildings look alike, where just a couple of decades ago, you could spot a taco bell, or a McDonald from a mile away. Not only are the new ones ugly as hell, but the existing ones with personality and character were demolished to become the same super ugly! This makes our quality of life worse, at an even faster rate than ‘they’ were already pushing us into. It IS a quality of life issue! How do we expect to get excited about anything at all that makes life even worth living when everyone and everything is jerked into looking exactly like everything else?!?! A book was written around 1960 called ‘the death and life of great American cities’…in it, the author described what she saw coming, way back then, and attempted to stop it by waking up city planners to remember and plan for HUMAN conditions in cities…but obviously, they didn’t listen. They ALL go the cheap route with cheap materials that don’t last, cheap labor with no benefits or longevity for those who actually BUILD, ugly plans used over and over again for ‘conformity sake, and passing NONE of those savings of the horrendous shortcuts onto the taxpayers or the future tenants and owners. Everything bad about capitalism with none of the good side effects…even accidentally…that’s where we are and that breaks my heart!!!! I could go on a days-long rant about this very subject, so if this your thing? I’m onboard and will even look into supporting your channel, but if this was a one-off, I wish you the very best of luck, and will subscribe to help you out, but…
I attended pre architectural school camp, and they graded silly impossible doodle buildings over actually practical classic buildings. I WILL lose my mind if it’s still this way.
I was talking with my coworker about this the other day, mcdonalds looked like a cool castle, it was happy looking, and was fun to be in, then it grew up with us, now its depressing looking, and makes me depressed to be in.
I've been noticing the lack of ceilings for years. At first it was kind of neat to see the ductwork and plumbing of a building. But then I started noticing it everywhere... and the terrible acoustics... and you know, I'd rather not see another gargantuan HVAC system hanging over me when I'm having a nice dinner at a fine dining restaurant. Architects will give the excuse that it's more "open and airy." What happened to cozy?
i think some shops can look good with the modern look it just depends like mcdonalds should be fun and colorful but like a cafe can have a earthy modern vibe
7:28 actually makes me more confused as a doordasher wondering what restaurant i was at 2 minutes after i leave sometimes because there is no personality in some places. but glad in my city some places look very unique still
Designed on computers by people who never worked with their hands and never ate at one of these places, didn't grow up here or in the same economic class. They don't remember what these places used to be or have any memory or visiting one ever.
a lot of architecture students nowadays literally aren't even *allowed* to make anything in a different style. classic architecture classes don't exist anymore except for a few specific schools that still have them...
Hey Chon. Search up Tartaria and the buildings they created. Buildings used to be created to envoke a sense of europhia when viewing them, and uplift society. This is why there is an allure to travelling the streets of an old European city. Just look at the cathedrals and the craftsmanship that was put into them, making them truly breathe taking. It was made by DESIGN to inspire citizens. Cities now a days are purposefully created to make you feel depressed, that you have no past and have a bleak future. This too is by design, and by evil people I do note.
lads and lassies, there will be no new video this saturday, but we will be back to the weekly vids in january. stick around for that and more streams in 2025! 📺
check out the newly hired fortune teller here: chon.digital & music here: soundcloud.com/chondigital
thank you for all the kind comments, hope to see you all in good health next year. god bless us freaks.
@stickmangod2 "bad istg" what
@@Gamefreak924 istg means "I swear to god"
@@Gamefreak924 idek why I commented that anyways
thank you for creating this vid. I deeply appreciate weekly scheduling. Just subscribed may this year's be blessed and do fulfilling for you !🎉
It's cheaper to build
They don't WANT you to hang out there, even for a couple minutes. That way, you're less likely to make a mess that won't get cleaned up. Notice how there's only one trash can in these restaurant interiors.
They even have signs up saying you have to leave after 30 minutes
At Popeyes its not even there half the time lol 🗑️
@@D..S.. ive never once been in a fast food restaurant that told me to leave in half an hour, i just went to culvers a few days ago and ate tf outta that shit in the culvers and noone batted an eye
Well, honey, it ain’t no shocker folks don’t sit down in fast food joints no more. Everybody’s busier than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs, and with drive-thrus, delivery apps, and to-go bags, it’s just easier to grab your food and skedaddle. Bless it, the pandemic done flipped everything upside down, and now folks are just used to eating at home in their comfy pants. And those play places that used to keep the young’uns entertained? Most of ‘em are gone or shrunk down so small, they ain’t worth a hill of beans. Let’s be real, though-those bright lights and plastic chairs ain’t exactly inviting, like sitting at Aunt May’s kitchen table. Folks also worry about cleanliness, ‘cause nobody wants to set their sweet tea on a sticky table. Nowadays, there are so many other places to grab a quick bite, from cute little diners to grocery stores with hot meals. And with all these fancy apps that let you order ahead, you can grab your food faster than a hound on a ham bone. It’s a shame, though-fast food spots used to be where folks would sit and visit, but now they’re just a pit stop for our go-go-go world.
Well, darlin’, I’ll tell ya, it’s true a lot of folks don’t sit and eat in fast food places much anymore, but I still do with my kids, and it’s just fine by me. I mean, it’s nice not having to clean up crumbs or worry about a mess at home! And honestly, with fewer people coming in, there’s usually just one trash can to deal with, which makes it easier on the staff and probably better for the environment too. It’s all about keepin’ things simple these days, and that’s just the way the world’s turned. But for me, sittin’ down and lettin’ someone else handle the cleanup is still a little treat!
Maybe - but those places are so ugly, I fdon't even want to go there in the first place.
That's all post modern architecture theory.
Any building is just a building, to be easily repurposed from one occupant to the next as the building generalized purpose is its design.
Post modernism is designed for bean counters being as cheap as possible requiring the minimum amount of manhours to complete.
The reason we like the old school bars with beat up wooden paneling that looks like it will give you a splinter if you look at it for too long, and why folks like going to the cheesecake factory and ancient buildings in general is because architecture used to be a mix of math, science, and naturalism meant for promoting the best qualities of humanity to come forward. (There's some psychology things that explain this but I don't remember what they are, if someone else can go further into detail on it please do)
beautiful.
Makes sense especially as someone seeing it happen in real time. Right now there's an old CVS that is as minimalist as possible in it's design. It closed down 2 years ago and is being repurposed into a Korean BBQ joint. Much of the building is retained as workers only have to knock out the sliding doors and those triangular "roof tops." Which are just thin walls standing in the air for aesthetics.
@@chon.digitalif you want another similar topic to this one for a video, User Interface and how it went from MS-DOS to windows 3.1-2000, XP, Vista/7, and it's current iteration of 8/8.1/10/11.
It went from "this is all we can do and every byte is sacred" MS-DOS to figuring out how UI systems work in Windows 3.1-2000, to letting technology be beautiful era (XP through 7), and our current era where the operating system is solely a mandatory obstical between you and what you want to do, devoid of character, soul, and astetics beyond functionality is king.
Designing your restaurant to compete against another business is what makes places stand out, not just their iconic mascots and logos, but the way the structures are built and design to stand outside of the box is what made it feel "humane" and "natural" as you've mentioned here. When buildings start to look more like Government "DMVs" or dare I say, Medical & "Hospitality" places, that's when people absolutely hate it. For me it's more about seeing the medical equipment, oxygen bags, syringes, and first air equipment that makes me nervous. Other than that, I personally like the white lights because it actually shows what the person's true skin tone actually is, unlike the tungsten or yellow/orange lights that makes you feel right at home.
No, postmodern architecture tried to be whimsical and pay tribute to the past. This is what I call "neo-modern": it revives the bland functionalism of modernist architecture, and kind of flubs it.
Minimalism is SOUL CRUSHING to me. I can’t stand looking at it.
SAME
Well, from a business/cost cutting stand point, it does make the building last long and not have to tear down the whole thing repeatedly just because the business can't afford the rent or lease costs of the place.
Yeah like world trade market 😊😊😊
SAMEEEEEE
Same ts is terrible
Where I live, the example I always think of is Pizza Hut. It used to be this cool, red roofed, 3 room fun place with good food. It had the big main room, a buffet room, and a party room, it was super cool. Now, it is this small gray box, and it is freezing in there. I went there once because I had a free pizza coupon and I'm like "Alright, I might check out the redesign and have a pizza." I went in there and it was cold, the food was cold, and it was so small. The designs of buildings used to be so much cooler. Remember when restaurants had video game console displays with the greasiest controllers known to man? Remember when they had TVs you could watch? Another thing was the kid meal toys. It used to be actually cool figures and knick knacks, now it is usually just cardboard.
there is a pizza hut near me that still has an actual interior, but the dining area is filled w random shit bc they just use it as a storage room :[
My local pizza hut is still that. No party room though.
It may apply to the Hut but someone who worked in industrial construction manufacturing said that the reason that McDonald's did away with the red roofs was because the chemical that made the color was pretty toxic and was banned by the EPA. They only make the color special order now and it is really expensive.
@@Nylon_riotThat's an excuse, and a poor one. Like we didn't find other ways to make paint after lead was removed from it?
@@amentco8445 I concur, the US still has colourings/dyes in foods that are outright banned and deemed as unsafe in the rest of the world no problem, I doubt paints were a problem in their eyes. It's likely a cost cutting measure more than anything over there.
Businesses have awful buildings, apartments look awful, logos and brandings all look bland and dull, everything in our society is removing any trace of personality to seek "minimalism" and just removing all human soul to save a buck and take your buck. I hate what our world has become
So like, what are ya gonna do about it other than complain?
@@Somemusicguy1995What are YOU gonna gonna do besides complain about the people complaining?
@@theraredevil3316 I mean it doesn't effect me so nothing, lol your response had the ,aturity level of "I know you are but what am i" 🤣
it'll bounce back eventually. i see more companies incorporating gradients and shadows to their designs and moving towards a less flat future. the flat trend has lasted a looong time but it will be gone eventually
@@Somemusicguy1995 Nothing useful, got it. 👍
The lack of comfortable chairs and the overall lack of welcoming environment is intentional. They don't want you to feel comfortable or welcome, they don't actually want you in there at all. This really took off during the pandemic, and businesses liked it, you're supposed to order on the app or at a kiosk, tap to pay, take your crap and leave. Lather, rinse, repeat. It keeps them from needing to hire a lot of employees and it keeps tables turning and cars moving. Because these places are all corporate now, there is only one goal, to make more money than last quarter, to increase the value of the stock for shareholders.
Soooooo, basically corporate greed.
@ yep
Corporate Greed using Communist Machinations. Terrifying D:
Fast food restaurants look like a depressed middle aged adult
Modern design is approved by the Pixies from fairly odd parents
LMAO the Pixies 😂
FOR REAL 😂 Those dastardly pixies!
That Cheesecake Factory comment hit pretty close to home. That's how I feel going to Bass Pro shop. I'm always in awe of the craftsmanship and ambience.
I think it looks like this because it's in correspondence to how we don't view fast food as a place to be at anymore. People used throw kids birthday parties at McDonald's. Can you imagine that now? Everyone just gets their slop and leaves.
Maybe people would still have birthday parties at McDonald’s if it was a service they still provided. Customer tastes change, but it’s the company that ultimately cuts a service or not.
If it was just fast-food restaurants, it'd be fine. But it's every other store, banks, malls, shit even residential buildings look like that now.
I remember going to a Burger King in the 90s for my sister's birthday party. There was a small indoor play area, the staff brought out a cake, everyone had crown hats on and overall it was just a fun vibe. And there was actual color in the interior design. It wasn't some warehouse with concrete floors and exposed ceilings.
And like you said, a lot of people nowadays just want to order their bag of grease and peel out of the drive through like they just did a drug deal.
I try to hang out and eat my food but half of them won't let you charge your phone and have like a 30 minute time limit. Shove your food down and leave I guess. No one wants poor people around so everyone suffers with locked bathrooms and they even took out the soda fountain.
Old architecture told you unambiguously what you were looking at and what you might expect inside with immediately recognizable geometry & color schemes.
With postmodern "design", you'd have no idea you were looking at, say, a cafe unless you saw the bland, minimalist logo slapped on one of the grey and/or brown walls or looked inside.
It's like we all forgot that mankind has relied on visual cues even before we discovered fire.
It makes the workers even more depressed! Imagine being stuck in those dull, grey boxes for 8 hours a day. Old McDonald's had this really fun, colourful and child friendly vibe that made it more than just a place to buy burgers, it was a trip. Staff seemed way happier too.
I find the term "minecraft buildings" to be an absolutely hilarious way to describe this type of architecture, and that's the soul reason I clicked on this video
It also makes it easier to resell when one business fails, another one can move right in.
Yeah, because they're all devoid of personality.
You just gave me fond memories of the Pizza Hut in everybody's town that's been a Dollar General, a Family Video, a bank, a blood center, a flea market.... Everybody has one of those old ass Pizza Hut or Taco Bell buildings that were never renovated.
@@dsouth7754 Pizza Hut was my first ever job. Now the building is a casino.
Planned business obsolescence. Even the land lord expects them to fail eventually and is already planning for their replacement.
rounded corners in technology: ✅
rounded corners in real life: ❌
It's just that this weird western tendency to distance itself from its roots and cultures and make everything as bland and accessible as possible. Utterly soulless and boring.
thats wat we call a psycop boys and girls
I mean my country is building their new capital city with only a few references of culture embedded to it's design and the rest of it looks bland, international modern, it's not just western countries
At this point, it’d be easier to just embrace brutalism
The Internationalists are the ones handing out the loans
Lmao we're talking about fast food restaurant joints. They're not supposed to be some touring suites. Get you food and get out...
Reject plain concrete blocks, return to gothic and roman/neo-roman architecture
my friend and I call it "Gentrifier Architecture"
I will say that whenever I walk into a Mexican restaurant, it doesn’t feel lifeless and soul-crushing. They actually put an effort into the interior architecture and it shows.
mexican restaurants got the vibiest interiors
destroy minimalism!
agreed
Yeah, Minimalism Sucks!!!
It's not that bad.
@@stlfatman it *is* that bad.
@@stlfatman depends on the context, it may have been cool and unique 1-2-3 decades ago when every restaurant and/or strip mall and/or single family home had the same kitsch shingled roof design, but now modern minecraft cube builds are overplayed and on top of it less cozy, i think a third way should be possible
glad to see someone else talking about this. 8:15 yes denny's looks better than almost every restraunt and building in the entirety of where I come from
it’s hostile architecture. designed to demoralize.
I always call these things “gulags”. There were 3 giant bland looking apartments built in my city. Everyone there was sketchy as hell, no landscaping and only parking lot, still $2600 for a two bedroom 😂
Where I live, people would rather live in a white cube than a beautiful Florida beach style house
WHY??
Sadly most people these days can only afford to live in the stupid white cube because the Florida Beach Style home is too expensive
7:30 Now I'm instantly reminded of that one SpongeBob episode. What was the place called? Tentacle Acres or Tentacle Oaks I think. And that was back in Golden Era of SpongeBob!
I work in the field of architecture and in one of the firms I used to work for - I drafted construction documents for McDonald's remodels. Basically many of the cool and unique McDonald's that used to exist, as well at the "regular" but still distinct mansard roof McDonald's of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, got gutted out and the exteriors turned into flat gray boxes. I absolutely hated the new designs but a low level architectural designer like me had no say. I've since grown sick of a lot of "modernism" which ironically, has dominated architecture for over a century, and have gained a lot more interest in more classical designs.
it's not your fault, you don't deserve to carry the guilt.
I knew it can’t be just me.
@notjustbikes
@citynerd
I hate modern/minimal stuff 😭😭
same its so soulless.
@Warp2090 it's sad like where is all the character and personality
@SparkSoph for real!!
We need to keep raising awareness about this. I’ve been saying this for years. We can’t let them make our whole world ugly
Every building is just a canvas for a company logo now
In my town my wife and I had our first date in one of the old red roof Pizza Huts. Several years later it was demolished, replaced with a car wash, and a new Pizza Hut just like these buildings was built. We rewarded that move with never eating there again. They recently shut down due to lack of participation, and I say it's deserved. Nostalgia has real repercussions sometimes.
Anytime I see those grey soulless blocky buildings all I can think is that the Pixies took over.
These are basic, sterile environments that lack any sort of personality or charm. They're spaces for NPCs to interact, a game lobby for the local Mii population. What a despicable waste of human thought all in the name of "one size fits all".
When you realize billionaires are the main characters and we're all NPCs....
RUclipss been pushing your videos on me for a while now and I'm happy it has. Im excited to see you blow up man, I know it's coming.
Turns out beauty isnt in the eye of the beholder. It also turns out that a society which is blatantly anti family values will create lifeless, soulless architecture.
Property is far more valuable long term than buildings. Buildings are put up now with the expectation that the area will be frequently rezoned for taller/bigger more subdivide-able and valuable structures. They are made to be destroyed and no one will care when they are.
I agree wholeheartedly. Humans hate these buildings. It's called Brutalism for a reason.
“Starbucking man, it’s happening everywhere”
You're too young to remember it, but _Family Matters_ was one of those family friendly sitcoms which used a real house (+stage) in a real city (Chicago suburbs) so fans could relate to the characters more. The pan out shot from the intro always got to me and still does because it's a cozy environment. Give it a look when you have a moment. WELL that house was torn down some years ago and in its place was built this big and ugly condo place. It's cold to look at inside and out. Black/white/gray aesthetic with minimalist design on the inside. It's quite the antithesis of what a family home used to be.
To add insult to injury, someone thought it was a good idea to stick a plaque up on one of the exterior corners recognizing the place as the former location of _Family Matters_ house. Boy did that tic a lot of people off. Meanwhile (as far as I know) the _Full House_ home is still up.
"Minecraft" Condos have been popping up in my area in the last 15 years and it's not cool. It's northern Indiana where not everyone's raking in the big money. Rooms in these places start at $1500. It's fine for doctors and pharmacists to afford but not the common worker. As a result many of them remain vacant. What a waste of space.
_Full House_ BETTER still be up smh
dude that's another thing i've noticed: tv sitcom sets look so much less believable now.
that's a real bummer about the house being torn down, as if chicago needs more grey squares. that new building is evil, holy hell how did anyone approve that.
@Duckz4bucks Still standing and can be yours for the low price of $6.5M with the option of concrete panels with handprints/signatures of the cast members.
$5M because it's a famous house in San Francisco + $1.5M because the producer bought/renovated it with "modern touches".
@Duckz4bucksthankfully it is
@@Devious_Reviews is it that cheap?
I mean I get 6.5M is expensive af but wow
All I’m gonna say is brutalist architecture has a “pattern” for the times in history it chooses to become commonplace
Thank you! Here I thought this 1970's cubism in goth greyscale was what the next generation wanted to see, but turns out it's corporate elite rule. Rise up! Tell them, "Heck no, we won't go" to your establishment that looks like a 1990's Playstation game with no budget. All the best & blessings be, power to the people, God bless.
You didn't see car dealerships back in the 90s. They looked pretty cool.
There was a car dealership in my small town, it looked like when it was built, somebody cared about it. It went out of business around the recession. Every time I drive by it, whenever I cruise through my hometown, I die a little inside knowing it'll eventually be torn down and probably have one of these ugly postmodernist hellscape apartments put on its spot.
Guys let’s make all our buildings spheres!
8:00 those 2 chairs are literally the exact same 2 types of chairs my work uses
The most uncomfortable chairs so you don’t stick around 😢
same LOL
Bonus points for “you can copy my homework, but don’t make it obvious“😂
I think the average Minecraft building have more care and soul than any of the white or grey boxes buildings that are everywhere 😂
Dude this video is really high quality and I can tell you put a lot of effort onto it and tried to make it as entertaining and audience worthy of watching. The concept itself is really interesting, combining a topic lots of people have heard of (minecraft) and something some people probably haven't ever even thought of (fast food architecture, probably since they just want to go in, grab their food, and dip) is really unique and creative, something you don't see a lot these days
TLDR: Good video and idea!
Chipotle was definitely patient zero for food restaurants.
Last time I visited a McDonald's was yesterday, and the only characteristic about the restaurant was the freaking logo, everything else looked like those minimalistic wood house with glass separating the kitchen in a 2025 magazine, that's DEF NOT the 2005 intense red and yellow McDonald's I remember in my childhood!
Dude, love the video! I cant believe you aren't a bigger creator already
If I took a shot every time you compared the buildings to Garry's Mod, I still wouldn't be drunk enough to cope with how horrendous restaurant architecture has become.
FINALLY SOMEONE USES WII FORECAST CHANNEL MUSIC. THANK YOU. SUBBED JUST FOR THAT! Your taste in music is incredible love the hg/ss azalea town and OR/AS pokemart theme
I miss the Wii 🥺
The fact that you had to call them Minecraft buildings is both based and hillarious
It does look modern, but it looks like cardboard boxes glued together. Im saying it looks cheap
America has two types of buildings, corporate and dull, or wooden and outdated.
Go anywhere in Europe/the UK and you'll see countless styles of buildings, often multiple types in a single town or street that somehow work well together.
It's the US that has taken the dull and boring approach to everything and it's a trend I hope the rest of us don't copy.
My mate from Upstate NY was on a video call with me a few days ago, went to Mc Donald's and that building was so... dull and lifeless, I showed her our local one and the one further out, and both of them had a completely different vibe and style we've had there for years. The uniforms are the same dull, grey and "smart" types, but the restaurants are just as full of life as they were 20 years ago. Why does the US business look(and taste apparently) worse in the US than it does overseas?
its like the combine takeover.
5:59 I'm tired of music in restaurants
I just wanna listen to my podcast without cranking the volume on my iPhone to 1000% while I'm eating
It doesnt help because EVEYONE starts SCREAMING just to talk over the dumb music making it even worse... AND DONT YOU DAR GET ME GOIN ABOUT MARIAH CARRIE IN THE WINTER>
Funny you mentioned that because I don't have my headphones on in those places, incase if I get beat up or someone asks me where the heck everything is and such.
It's that noxious mixture of brutalist, functionalist, and minimalist architecture, plus a big, heaping dollop of postmodernism. Gone are the days of Streamline Moderne, Raygun Gothic, and Googie architecture. Nothing has any character, uniqueness, or specialness anymore.
Dont ever compare my minecraft builds to these boxes
Build cheap, build fast and spend the least amount on labor possible to maximize profits. Welcome to America
Too cheap…
That's true everywhere
To be honest I think people using squares is really perfect
It's one thing to make new buildings look like this.... but how much money was spent on the tear down or remodelling of existing buildings to look like garbage. They could have saved that and kept their prices low.
Hot take: we should take all of our buildings and redesign them in neo-classical style. Our cities would look amazing.
This is what I call "Corporate Buildings". I just want things with personality, character and soul! These buildings of today, aren't what I want these days!
You're right. I hate that these buildings have no soul or personality. The interiors have no color (usually). The new logos are all boring. I hate it. I have even left feedback on this. Not that they'd care, but I hope others do too. The minimalist, gray/beige/exposed ceiling with concrete floor look is AWFUL. The exteriors look cheap and awful. It's just plain ugly and awful. If anyone watching this is in charge of any of this for any of these companies, please go back to more pleasant architecture and design. Really. It's that bad.
Modern brutalist style buildings
Except brutalism was actually cool
@ excellent point
@@XxSanderMLGamerXxembrace brutalism
You know, it is not impossible to build crazy stuff in Minecraft but it's a matter of actually doing it and we're not seeing that here are we?
My first job was at a chain pizza place with that high unfinished ceiling and boy- if you think trying to have a conversation as a CUSTOMER sucks, imagine trying to take orders while you can barely hear someone mere inches away from your face. And for some reason all of my coworkers thought I was disabled for not being able to hear people?? Maybe they were just used to the echoing, but it made me feel crazy.
They're better than 90s-2000s style, but it's still not as good as architectural styles from hundreds of years ago.
I'm a sucker for string lights too! 😂
dude good video man!
New Chon video!!! Lets go!!!
Ironically, a lot of buildings I've seen in minecraft look more welcoming than these buildings do
The Modern Buildings are Square, Inspiring Minecraft Builders ✅
The RUclipsr is a Minecrafter ✅
The Buildings are Minecraft ✅
The Construction worker are Minecrafters ✅
And the best of all, The World is Turning into Minecraft. ✅
Am i the only one who enjoys this type of architecture?
I don't mind it
Iirc the reason its so plain and soulless is because they're made to be essentially another kind of commodity for companies to sell between each other.
One company closes down there, another one can easily set up shop there because the building itself (unlike in the past with the iconic pizza hut roof places) has absolutely no identity to any company its just a box with a few windows and doors
buildings being cool back in the day went so tragically underappreciated. pizza hut roofs were dope as hell. every fast food place had personality. the paper cup aesthetic in a taco bell, the burger chairs in mcdonalds with the horrifying apple pie tree... but everything is like the same classroom in a school with different paper holiday decorations. every building has the same layout, same overall color scheme, with the exception of whatever cheap tacky shit they slapped on the wall in the hopes to gain some identity.
I think they were underappreciated because it was so normal
the cube design reminds me of those training cities the police and military use
I usually don't say things like this, but I could've sworn that people my age and younger (millennials and gen z) were all about minimalism about 10 years ago. I know that 10 years isn't exactly a short amount of time, but for you guys to get bored of minimalism so fast says to me that it was just a fad and companies took you guys too seriously.
Vhat? You don't like living in new-age Soviet Block? XD
Yeah, totally agreed! Real architecture needs to come back!
You funny I like you💯 and your rap taste🔥
I will subscribe if you promise to keep doing rants like this. Being a lifelong architecture buff, I started being sickened by the cookie cutter McMansion scourges on planet earth (think the ugly sprawl of Atlanta/Charlotte/ or any other southern ‘new’ city). And it was literally yesterday that I was tirading about how all of the fast food buildings look alike, where just a couple of decades ago, you could spot a taco bell, or a McDonald from a mile away. Not only are the new ones ugly as hell, but the existing ones with personality and character were demolished to become the same super ugly!
This makes our quality of life worse, at an even faster rate than ‘they’ were already pushing us into. It IS a quality of life issue! How do we expect to get excited about anything at all that makes life even worth living when everyone and everything is jerked into looking exactly like everything else?!?!
A book was written around 1960 called ‘the death and life of great American cities’…in it, the author described what she saw coming, way back then, and attempted to stop it by waking up city planners to remember and plan for HUMAN conditions in cities…but obviously, they didn’t listen. They ALL go the cheap route with cheap materials that don’t last, cheap labor with no benefits or longevity for those who actually BUILD, ugly plans used over and over again for ‘conformity sake, and passing NONE of those savings of the horrendous shortcuts onto the taxpayers or the future tenants and owners.
Everything bad about capitalism with none of the good side effects…even accidentally…that’s where we are and that breaks my heart!!!! I could go on a days-long rant about this very subject, so if this your thing? I’m onboard and will even look into supporting your channel, but if this was a one-off, I wish you the very best of luck, and will subscribe to help you out, but…
I attended pre architectural school camp, and they graded silly impossible doodle buildings over actually practical classic buildings. I WILL lose my mind if it’s still this way.
I was talking with my coworker about this the other day, mcdonalds looked like a cool castle, it was happy looking, and was fun to be in, then it grew up with us, now its depressing looking, and makes me depressed to be in.
Saying these buildings look like they are from Minecraft is an insult to Minecraft builds
This is 100% by design i.e. meant too demoralize people
I've been noticing the lack of ceilings for years. At first it was kind of neat to see the ductwork and plumbing of a building. But then I started noticing it everywhere... and the terrible acoustics... and you know, I'd rather not see another gargantuan HVAC system hanging over me when I'm having a nice dinner at a fine dining restaurant. Architects will give the excuse that it's more "open and airy." What happened to cozy?
i think some shops can look good with the modern look it just depends like mcdonalds should be fun and colorful but like a cafe can have a earthy modern vibe
You make reusing toilet paper sound unusual. We're just being thrifty.
7:28 actually makes me more confused as a doordasher wondering what restaurant i was at 2 minutes after i leave sometimes because there is no personality in some places.
but glad in my city some places look very unique still
Designed on computers by people who never worked with their hands and never ate at one of these places, didn't grow up here or in the same economic class. They don't remember what these places used to be or have any memory or visiting one ever.
a lot of architecture students nowadays literally aren't even *allowed* to make anything in a different style. classic architecture classes don't exist anymore except for a few specific schools that still have them...
@@daylightsystem5498 Worst part Engineers HATE Brutalism they are a pain to make stable and functional. Minimalism isnt any better.
Return to local.
We need art deco buildings again
Eventhough they ugly, SOMEHOW its still ridiculously expensive, wtf america
Hey Chon. Search up Tartaria and the buildings they created. Buildings used to be created to envoke a sense of europhia when viewing them, and uplift society. This is why there is an allure to travelling the streets of an old European city. Just look at the cathedrals and the craftsmanship that was put into them, making them truly breathe taking. It was made by DESIGN to inspire citizens. Cities now a days are purposefully created to make you feel depressed, that you have no past and have a bleak future. This too is by design, and by evil people I do note.
Time to bring back stone columns, buttresses, arches, domes and fountains.
as a 21 y/o born and raised in boise, thank you for the perfectly niche video. happy 2025!
Love how you call it a "Minecraft building" 💀
Companies are lazy and they focus on what will get them more money.
2:06 i’ve never seen this channel before but just that line has earned a like and sub