What Makes a McMansion Bad Architecture?
You've got to <i>know</i> to the rules before you <i>break</i> the rules.<p>I don't know about McMansions. Certainly (~20th century) Dutch architecture follows somewhat different design guidelines. We don't have as much space, sometimes sacrificing balance or even proportion. We definitely have much bigger windows (voids), it's a cultural thing. Similarly, fig.2 "Secondary Masses: 6" looks to me like it could be a Mediterranean communal farm, grown organically (truly don't see what's wrong with that one tbh).<p>But I don't want to go into details. The most important rule of design is:<p>You've got to <i>know</i> to the rules before you <i>break</i> the rules.<p>Some of these rules are grown by circumstance, and you can't always break them (or build a shitty house--but sometimes you can be clever).<p>Some of the rules are grown by taste or preference. These you can play with.<p>Some of the rules are grown by circumstance, turned into preference, because technology advanced and preference didn't. These you can also play with.<p>Relating this to HN: The above holds just as much for designing webpages or app user interfaces.