Anyone with even a nominal understanding of global flows knows that cultural borrowing and translation is intrinsic to the process of globalization. So appropriation of architectural styles isn't exactly new. Nor is it surprising that China (natch) has its own gated community outside of Beijing called...Orange County, complete with California-style ranch houses and Hummers in the driveway. According to GOOD magazine: "The project, whose 143-unit first phase opened in 2001 at a ceremony including American diplomats and McDonald’s cheeseburgers, was designed by a trio of design firms from California’s Orange County, headed by Bassenian Lagoni Architects, a leading designer of McMansions that has been dubbed one of the most influential architects you’ve never heard of by The Wall Street Journal." Until they also import suburban malaise, meth labs, and mild temps, Orange County still has a ways to go. However, there's always Vancouver Forest just down the road. [Photo via Good magazine]
·Welcome to the O.C. [GOOD]
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