December 06, 2004

simulacra for everyone!

Fascinating piece in the NYTimes about people building new homes that are designed to look like they’ve been converted from industrial uses.

Mr. Binkley predicts that factory chic will become more popular, partly for nostalgic reasons: these designs will remind Baby Boomers of architecture they loved - though not necessarily lived in - from a time gone by.

I’m imagining an entire neighborhood of these.  The faux-converted firehouse next to the faux-converted cannery next to the faux-converted warehouse next to the faux-converted barn.  All with exposed beams, exposed brick walls and exposed duct work.  All containing piles of newly purchased, artfully stacked coffee table books filled with images of actual firehouses, canneries, warehouses and barns that have been converted to residential use.

Update:  a kind reader sends a link to this glorious MetropolisMag.com piece, “I am the Uncool Hunter,” complete with photos of a Frederick, Colorado development filled with faux-conversions.