IMHO many new housing designs are hideously ugly.

[Henry Whalley]

Slowed or stalled housing developments in Detroit hope to finish [[freep.com)

Is there a name for that Ikea-like style of architecture?

[jcole]

I don't know the name, but I saw the same crap being built out in the Denver area about 8-10 yrs ago. Out there, they liked to say it mimicked the shape of the mountains, much like their ugly ass airport. There is no excuse here.

[casscorridor]

I don't know the name, but I saw the same crap being built out in the Denver area about 8-10 yrs ago. Out there, they liked to say it mimicked the shape of the mountains, much like their ugly ass airport. There is no excuse here.

The reason new buildings all look the same is due to strict regulations and building codes, along with constraints on financing, construction and materials. It's actually very difficult for architects to do anything different.

[JBMcB]

Is there a name for that Ikea-like style of architecture?

Ikea stores are, nominally, modernist. Ikea furniture, specifically, mimics the style of mid-century Danish modern, so the stores are styled that way. Minimalist, straight clean lines, etc...

What you are looking at, I'm assuming the goofy staggered façade apartments, is post-modern architecture.

Modernist architecture means, generally, form-follows-function. There is a minimal amount of decoration. 1001 Woodward is modernist, but is kind of ugly in my opinion. One Woodward is also modernist, and is fantastic.

Post-modernist is the opposite of form-follows-function. The building can look however you want. I've seen good post-modernist buildings, but most are hideous. One Detroit Center is post-modernist, with useless peaks on the roof and fake stamped concrete bricks.

[Richard]

Years ago there was a furniture retailer Scan Design,high end Scandinavian style furniture,IKEA became the Wal-Mart of Scan Design.

The basic building materials have not changed,the architecture styles have changed no different then they have through the centuries.

Frank loyd Wright is popular with some but not so much with others.

They built signature buildings in the past just like they built plain Jane Industrial buildings,Detroit is a bit different because even buildings that would have been plain Jane in other cities were built as a showpiece.

So there is a higher standard or was anyways. Building trends have always been started in Europe,so here in the states there is nothing really innovative going on,it’s just copy and paste similar to cookie cutter subdivisions.

In downtown Philadelphia they built a cutting edge modernist skyscraper that was all the rage with a full glass facade,problem was when the sun hit it,it blinded everybody sitting in traffic with the reflection.

I view it as the vintage architecture presented power and strength as a corporation but yet warmth when you entered them,the building was used in the messaging.

If that applies to a lot of the new buildings to me the message is cold steel and glass with no soul,just a place to go to in order to take care of business.

[Jimaz]

... Minimalist, straight clean lines, etc...

...There is a minimal amount of decoration....

I imagine that would make for a noisier environment. It might simplify the shot spotter equations though. IDK

[Gistok]

The Ally Building, formerly known as Comerica Tower, formerly known as One Detroit Center was built by Gerald Hines, a Houston developer known to build attractive looking buildings with a lot of quality materials. One Detroit Center is mostly clad in granite... a much more expensive material than the usual glass buildings.

If you look at Philadelphia's Libery Place towers, they look like the Chrysler Building, but have only glass spires that gives off a cheap post modern look, while One Detroit Center has a very nice classic look that really complements the older skyscrapers of downtown Detroit.

Architects like to criticize and call One Detroit Center "pastiche" and complained when it was going up. But among post modern designs, it is one of the nicer ones.

[K-slice]

Slowed or stalled housing developments in Detroit hope to finish [[freep.com)

Is there a name for that Ikea-like style of architecture?

This should help answer your question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrxZqPVFTag

[Gistok]

^Thanks for the link K-slice! This video screams Statler Block "stick built" lowrise apartments. They are really colorful, but still stick built.

[Henry Whalley]

This video screams Statler Block "stick built" lowrise apartments. They are really colorful, but still stick built.

Agreed, the video is informative. The five over one style is not lovable but still a cut above residential apartments of the Soviet-style.

P.S. I really miss the feel of residential Detroit before the elm tree tragedy.