Architecture Smarchitecture

The lot across the street from my place of business is putting up this building:

 

Designed by Preston Phillips, the developer seems to have decided to build this single family behemoth before she has a buyer. Despite the fact that to build a custom home like this with no end user in mind seems counter-intuitive, the architecture itself is so insensitive to its surroundings as to be offensive. I don't mean to shun Mr. Phillips Architectural Prowess. His portfolio is vast and varied. He has to pay his bills, after all. 

Now whether this will actually be built or not may still be up in the air. A family with this kind of spending power I would imagine would want some kind of say in the layout of their space. I certainly would. 

Modern Architecture even at its most minimal should not be cold. Concrete can be used beautifully, but this building, to me, misses the mark. This is modernism at its worse: cold, uninviting, sterile. The greenery that has been included is an afterthought and does nothing to soften this building's facade. Are we returning to Cold War architecture?

I just may call on Beetlejuice to haunt the person that decided on this design.