What’s a McMansion - and how can we prevent more of them? | Kate Wagner | TEDxMidAtlantic 

Most of these mansions look like something I built in The Sims as a teen. I was waiting for the giant cowplant and the pool without ladder.

The way Wagner talks is awkward but in a really endearing way, it reminds me of how I'd probably sound and talk if I were offered to speak at one of these things

to all the people getting offended because they live in a big house. it's not about you, it's about companies that put as little effort as possible into building homes and trying to pass them off as "luxury". I live in the burbs & used to be a realtor, so I've seen lots and lots of mcmansions. I know first hand how poorly some of them are constructed and how little attention is sometimes paid to function and purpose - even in multi-million dollar homes. what Kate is trying to do is educate people so that they can choose a quality home instead of mcmansion. it's like learning how to spot and avoid a Folex when you're really interested in a Rolex.

Mcmansions...so cheap and unimaginative yet so desperate to pass off as rich and fancy. What insecurity looks like as a building.

What upsets me most about McMansions is their terrible, hyper-complicated roof constructions. Zig-zag mountain ranges of roof that will cost more to replace than most houses cost in the first place.

I love how she seems so awkward up there, she has the sort of anxiousness where she rocks back and forth and stuff on her feet and I love that. She's so human, she makes funny jokes about architecture and I think it's great that she got up here even if she seemed nervous to talk about something she was passionate for. (honestly, these are just opinions, actually sorry if she wasn't nervous)

it this the girl who does Mcmansion hell?? on tumblr? ive been a fan of that blog forever.

"Mommy really needs cathedral ceilings in her bathroom." lol

Just because a house is large doesn't mean it's a McMansion though, many people in the comments seem confused by that. The majority of McMansions get their name from poor design, and cheap structure so that it is inexpensive to purchase this oversized home. They're trying to look fancy, but essentially they aren't.

My grandmother lives in a McMansion, and what’s worse is that they are just as bad on the inside too. Some of the perks include 1. A garage too short to park most cars in 2. A laundry room without a door separating it from the kitchen 3. A loft with a ceiling so low you can scrape your head on the roof at certain angles 4. A breakfast nook too small for most tables 5. A fireplace in the living room that does not work because of a design error 6. No door between the master bed and bath 7. The staircase to access the loft is in the laundry room 8. A horribly laid out jack-and-Jill bathroom for the guest bedrooms to work 9. The two guest bedrooms do not have access to their closets. The only access is through the shared bathroom 10. The kitchen is walled on nearly all sides

im a contractor that has to regularly work on these homes and i cant stand it. problem is property is worth so much you actually HAVE to build a gigantic house on it to even have a chance at getting a return on your investment. of course that only applies to new contruction, not remodeled older homes

We recently sold our century old farmhouse. We were a little worried because we'd started some maintenance on one of the rooms but had not finished it, so the guts of the construction were visible. After the sale had closed, the buyer said "I knew I had to have it when I saw the all wood construction."

beautiful and smart! when I worked in heating and air conditioning, we LOVED mcmamsions! they usually required 3 times the materials (duct work , compressors and air handlers) for installation.

If Lisa Simpson was an architect

I make McMansions in the Sims game.

Former homebuilder here. Part of what contributes to the sqft bloat is the permit fee structure. In most municipalities in the US, the developer pays a building permit fee *per unit*. This encourages them to build fewer, larger units to lower their overhead rather than the many smaller affordable units we actually need in this country.

Yes. We need builders to build normally sized homes with better materials. She touched on the poor materials which is what really bugs me. You rarely see any actual masonry on newly built homes. Chimneys are just plywood boxes with siding. Porches are concrete with brick patterns stamped on them. You don't see real wood in woodwork. Woodwork is painted MDF. Bathrooms usually aren't tiled. They are just drywall with vinyl floors and fiberglass tubs. Most builders are just shitting out cheap square footage made of oriented strand board and vinyl. I'd rather have a smaller house made with quality materials.

I grew up in Charlotte NC and saw plenty of these. One time, my dad and I were at Phillips Place, which has high end stores, expensive restaurants, and luxury condos, to see a movie at the theater. Anyway, there was this low wall built as a border around the parking lot that someone hit with a car. The wall was literally Styrofoam covered with stucco! And you basically had to be super rich to live there.

I feel like McMansions look like some sort of ironic art piece in response to suburbanism and consumerism, but sadly they actually exist

I thought about the houses the Bluths built in Arrested Development for the duration of this video.

Few points, none of them aesthetic: i] "McMansions" are usually the product of cowboy greenfield developers exploiting lax regulation around US property rights to build cheap, giant houses on the peripheries of urban centers. It's usually the municipality - not to mention the environment - that ends up picking up the bill. ii] These sort of suburban communities extend the boundaries of American cities almost indefinitely, until you end up with areas like Dallas, Atlanta, and Phoenix, where the "free will" of McMansion consumers actually produces negative externalizes (pollution, lack of access to nature, creation of soulless spaces, decentralization...) that harm other inhabitants of the city. iii] As Kate mentions, they speak to a new era of housing in which the emphasis isn't on livability, longevity, or design, but upon return-on-investment. iv] Not only do they fail in the above respect, as almost all trends suggest that every generation now prefers smaller houses in walkable neighborhoods with amenities and a sense of community, but their cheap square-footage obsessed construction also creates a slew of secondary problems. They're difficult to maintain, they create aesthetically jumbled neighborhoods, and they consume a disproportionate amount of energy. It's really not (all) about how they look. It's what they represent: people who - really only because they've been socialized not to think about anyone else - make decisions to the detriment of society, the planet, and their own well-being. Maybe commentaries like this aren't the best way to change those peoples' tastes, but it's certainly part of the reason why consumers are turning against stuff like this. It just creates bad places.

I though I was strange because I never liked them but they keep being built. I agree that mcmansions are absolutely gaudy.

McMansions remind me of fast fashion for some reason.

I've always called this "F$%@ You" Architecture, because the owners couldn't care less how their monstrosity fits into the aesthetic of their neighborhood, only what it looks like from inside. Better yet--they are the housing equivalent of Beanie Babies.

I love your blog and this talk! I just spent an hour learning about McMansions on your blog; never knew I had an interest in architecture!

As a real estate agent, I would never take a client to any McMansion.

Glad to know I am not alone in distain for these buildings. I always imagine the architect sitting with the client describing many architectural elements possible for the design and the client responds saying they'd like one of each.

Why are all these windows so small. I wanna cry.

My sister owned a McMansion in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Her next, next, door neighbor was Prince's ex girlfriend. Her other next, next, door neighbor was a former 76-er. The amount of money in that area was insane yet all I ever saw were working-men's trucks. Plumbers. Carpenters, Roofers. Electricians. Because these places were literally falling apart ALL THE TIME. My sister's house, she purchased from a former Villanova professor had a hot tub in the master bedroom that over the course of several years rotted the floor around it to the point that water leaked into the kitchen below. Her flooring pealed up off the floor at random...ON and on it went.

One of my pet peeves in housing design is "inefficient use of space". Housing here in Australia has ridiculous pricing, which is driving suburban houses onto smaller lots. Multi-level houses pop up, yet they have bizarre design options from the start... Standard house plans, even 2-storey designs, don't include a garage by default. You want a garage, the architects tack it onto one the sides of the house. Which leads to the debacle of being unable to use the space ABOVE the garage unless you abandon most architect designs. There's something ridiculous, bordering on obscene, in having so much space go to waste in a housing design.

When my friend was moving to the U.S for 18 months, we were looking a house for rent and we were both amazed at how little bricks and actual foundation is used there. Most of the houses for rent looked like a playhouse for a kid. I always wonder why people move so much there, here if you build a home it's usually because you know you're going to be settled for a long time.

This was one of my favorite talks that day haha I knew nothing about McMansions but have definitely seen them

Plato wrote that beautiful objects whisper important things about the truth to us. The architectural disharmony of the Mcmansions is reflected in ugly behaviour (lust vs. love) of the dwellers of such mansions. Also cars today look like hissing animals.

Honestly when she spoke about being heard more when you disagree with something opposed to agreeing with something is right on so many levels....

Great talk! I love it when someone addresses something that I never put words to. Sure, I can see how her personality could rub some people the wrong way, but I personally enjoy it a lot, and thought she gave a funny, interesting, well-structured, organized, easy-to-follow, and informative presentation.

To the people who think it's the companies' fault, not the home buyers fault, that's incorrect. The company may be partially at fault but the home buyers willingly bought the house and fueled the market for McMansions.

I'll take a McMansion but I want a supersized side order of back, front and side yard to go with it I find nothing worse than those houses that are right on top of each other and a "yard" is a potted plant on the porch

I used to work servicing air ducts and insulation. You can really tell that these huge newer houses in general are cheaply made compared to older houses. Crawling through complicated roofs was not fun. But sometimes it was easier just because you could easily fit several bedrooms up there.

OMG THERES AN ENTIRE TED TALK!?!?! lmao I got here from the Washington Post.

Thank you for explaining to us the important "why". I love your blog. Keep up the great work, please.

I am in love with this woman and her snark.

What’s that? A ted talk that doesn’t sound overly scripted and rehearsed? Incredible

Great job Kate! Judging the reactions from the limited vocabulary posters in the comment section, it would appear that you've struck a nerve with the half-arsed and lazy builders that are responsible for these horribly constructed monstrosities, because why in the world would people be offended by you educating the typical consumer on why not to purchase these homes?

Its so hard to find anything but a McMansion in Las Vegas. All they have built in the past 40 years are these hideous cheap structures.

I was in a "million dollar house" once, spent a night there. It was maybe 5 years old. I was not impressed. What a waste of space. I own a minimal traditional built in 1950. What a wonderful place to live. It's durable, simple, pretty and right. It's the colonial type. A classic form. It's oh so well thought out. It's only 1400 square feet but it feels much larger because of how carefully the space is designed and used. The mcmansion had these sprawling spaces but so little of it was usable. In my mind minimal traditionals represent rightness, I use to like them now we have one and I love them.

in the beginning she shows pictures of huge houses on huge lots, those don't bother me , its the 3200 sq ft home built on a 65x125 lot with mostly 1200 to 1500 Sq ft homes around it.

As a builder and remodeler, I feel the best practical design is a single story house around 1600 square/ft on a slab. A pitched roof around 4/12 without any valleys and eves between 18" and 24". A house that is easy to maintain, repair, keeps water out, and is cheap to own.

This woman is SO charming. Funny and brilliant and performing an important service.

You will find Kate Wagner's picture under "Adorkable" in the dictionary.

”The basic rules of architecture” - She’s awesome

This is part of why I am having a Japanese House with modern and traditional touches built. It is designed to LAST, it will be passed on in my family long after I am gone, it is functional, versatile, everything is useful, it is extremely durable, and beautiful. Also, it is designed to be a fun space from its inception. It is 1,484 sq ft. (basement makes it double but basements aren't included in sq. ft.)

I love McMansions. I know, it shows poor taste but I can't help looking at them in awe. My house is 1960's Brady Bunch, so maybe that is why.

4 McMansions disliked this video.

Great talk. The discussion goes far beyond style.

She is so funny and adorable, she made this really engaging for a topic that I’ve never cared about before

She needs to seriously consider being a voice actor for animated shows. She has a great voice. I can easily see her on Bob’s Burger.

The one and only time a TedX talk featured a legitimate expert/intellectual, as opposed to propping up pseudointellectual BS speakers for the intellectual-wannabe audience. I love Kate!

I think she said it up best with a couple of phrases. "Most space for lowest cost," and "Designed from the inside out." This says it all about what's wrong with McMansions.

In my opinion, McMansions are truly wonderful pieces of art. They encourage creativity. However after listening to her speech I do agree that if such houses are built in huge scales with poor construction techniques, it would be a shame that they’d eventually abrade in a few years time. I guess we could think of a way to perpetuate these buildings while saving construction materials in order to diminish environmental problems.

She puts it perfectly, for so many years I hated these things but didn't know enough about architecture to accurately express myself. One criticism I did have is the sizes of those things. Why do we build these houses so damn big? They have zero lot lines and they reach into the sky. A block full of these things and not an average size backyard between them! When I was a kid, we had plenty of space to run around and play in our neighborhood. Well not anymore. Combine that with video game consoles and digital pacifiers and it's no wonder kids in the suburbs don't play outside anymore. I live in Plano, TX and they keep building more of these things everywhere. I also always suspected they were built rather cheaply. I grew up in an older part of the city where lots of houses are quickly approaching 100 years old, and it's obvious how well constructed and built to last they are. Then I look around up here and can't figure out why people are paying a half million dollars for oversized doll houses? McMansions are a perfect example of market failure.

i always felt that houses shoudlnt have fake or faux peices on them. they cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. i expect everything to work

I live on Cape Cod and McMansions are a cancer. A friend of mine bought a house around 30 years ago and made a killing when he sold it because it was the plot that was valuable. It was a nice little cottage, nothing wrong with it, but it was torn down and some hideous, enormous monstrosity that gets used like one week a year was built on the site.

She's hilarious! And what she says is so true too. I've definitely noticed that with the McMansions around the suburbs. Very sad & not authentically made at all. Fortunately for me though, I'm way more attracted to the old historic homes & mansions that were built around the early to mid late 1800s.

I always called them "Kindergarten Houses" because they look like a typical house a kindergartner would draw with a happy stick family and a big smiley sun at the top.

omg kate wagner is awesome and adorable she is my fave

Kate Wagner thank you for pointing out "spite archecture". I hate McMansions!

Don't know why there are so many downvotes. I thought this was an edifying and funny talk.

I do agree on the cheap construction

This girls is hilarious. I am from Fairfield County, CT, so I feel this pain.

I’d rather live in a modernized, old Tuscan home from Italy than any of these hideous McMansions any day.

Great talk! Really helped narrow down all the points you make on your blog! Good job

Thanks for giving us the words to talk about what we instinctively know about these funny houses. I like her good taste in shoes.

All these salty people. You don’t have to agree, but why the personal attacks??? Rude imo.

I was getting into this hoping to convince myself McMansions are indeed bad but the point failed to come across. "They're big" Yeah I get that, that's why they're called mansions. "They're cheaply built" aren't most American single homes? "No sense of proportion, basics of architecture, tee-hee" If this is supposed to be obvious, it is not. Maybe you'd get a better feel for it if you walked around it or something, but while they look like several buildings merged into one big structure I'm not seeing how that is supposed to be vicious. The biggest takeaway point is how much heat they waste. What's especially confusing is how she suddenly defends the disaster at 8:33, which is actually hideous architecture.

This is off topic, but I absolutely love her shoes and want to find out where she got them.

Kate.. You're my hero!

I married my second husband in 1980, back when women were expected to handle all the housework. When we were looking for a house, he kept urging McMansions, for pride, he wanted to demonstrate he had "arrived", whoop whoop.. There was just the two of us and a cat, and we both worked full time plus mandated overtime. In frustration I finally told him there was no way I was going to clean that house, period. He finally got my point.

OMG! I LOVE THAT BLOG!

Loved this and love her blog.

I remember when someone built on an empty lot in my neighborhood and I was completely flabbergasted when it was done. I screamed about it every time I drove by for weeks probably. The windows were especially bad like in this video, every set was completely different! And cement with cut outs, red brick with red clay roof, huge front windows, like you could see everything they did, and a big opaque black screened porch in the back/side. Oh and of course its taller and fatter than all the one story 70s homes around it. Zero yard also. McMansion 3000.

A Mcmansion is a house over 5,500 sq feet, some cities now all the homes are 4,000 sq feet

Love your site and how serious you take this. Those houses look like the stuff i built in "the sims", honestly. Thanks for the education, for formulating the feeling one might get when seeing such houses. And btw excellent talk, also very funny!

Oregon’s version on the McMansion is the McCraftsman.

People gonna hate me for this but tbh I would love to live in a McMansion. It is really my dream home, growing up in Mexico city where everything is so crowded and your homes are right next to your neighbors, like you can climb over and youre in their house, I would like to live in a place where it is spaced out. Theres a small community of McMansions in front of where I live and we drive by every once in a while and I always think of how pretty they look because really to me they do. Just my opinion though 🤷🏼‍♀️

Kate has some amazing points. ‘Grand Homes’ is one of the biggest offenders. Had a friend that had a 5k sqft ‘Grand Home’ and it had so many quality problems. In fact, when it rained, water somehow got in between the drywall and brick, forcing them to tear down the entire wall near the breakfast nook. Keep in mind the house wasn’t even a year old. However, it seems she is not only singling out the poor design and quality. She seems to be somewhat jealous of ANY home with a 3 car garage larger than 3k sqft. Yes, she has tremendous insight into design, but not all large homes are bad (Just have to go with a private builder who knows what they’re doing). Another interesting critique from her are that McMansions have wood frames covered in foam? This leads me to believe that she has only design insight, yet none at all in physics. Remember back to your high school physics class when we had to build a wooden bridge? Turns out, with the right design, a wooden structure is stronger than stone structures. As for the foam comment, yes, a well insulated home will maintain a comfortable temperature while also being more efficient, saving in cooling/heating costs (BTW, modern homes are exponentially more energy efficient than older homes). Kate, your problem is simply the mass production and cheap materials of homes. Keep it at that. No need to go beyond your field of study.

who cleans these things. Unethical use of space. She is great!!!

Only criticism/negative. Lead by example. Or, always be positive. Should have shown what a "good" "mansion"/residential house should look like.

I’d rather live in a McMansion than a mcstudio with 3 mcroomates

1920 Sears Craftsman houses are very sturdy, affordable, well designed. Renovate existing buildings first.

TIL I hate McMansions. I feel like she would get along great with Roman Mars of "99% Invisible." On a side note, I counted 36 "so"s, averaging 1 every 16 seconds.

As a Trump-curious Canadian, I can really respect Kate on this, even if she seems alot like an immediately post-Obama young liberal and an Urban booster (given what has happened to many urban areas post-2000). If you want a big house, pay for durability and pay for style. It may actually cost less than an apartment in the cesspool that is the modern, liberal city,

Basically every home in my neighborhood is a McMansion

I hate cathedral ceilings in a home. I find them annoying, impractical, and a waste of space and money as you have to crank up the heat and warm up a giant void above your head before any heat gets down to you because heat rises. Not to mention that no one wants to deal with a giant process every time they have to change a lightbulb. That's space that if your house was constructed differently could have been used for storage or another bedroom, but instead only has a function if you plan to release a flock of birds in your home.

She keeps saying that McMansions are a product of deregulation, when, in fact, they are a product of *regulation*, at the local level. Any local government of a city, village, or township wants their communities to be upscale- the more expensive the property, the higher the revenue, and by zoning out all but the richest potential residents (the top 15%), avoid having to dish out any public aid as well. They should force municipalities to issue a building permit for a 1200 sq ft home for every permit issued for a 3000 sq ft home.

Love, love, love this!!! Great concept!

Finally someone who got this. I never understood them. She is quite funny. Freedom of ugliness.

Can you imagine what Frank Lloyd Wright would say about McMansions?! The man would be incensed by these affronts to good design and craftsmanship.

I never knew why my friends loved these kinds of houses and I just ugh no. I can’t. This puts it perfectly! And I never get why have shutters if they do nothing 😝

Kate you didn’t explain the derivation of the term of McMansion. I’m assuming that Mc is associated with the fast food restaurant owned by the red headed guy in the Clown suit. Where’s the drive thru? Would be a good observation.

Loved it!