March 20, 2026
When buildings grow a face
Meme Buildings
Fans crown Face House, Google’s Binoculars, and a coffee‑pot dive
TLDR: A piece on “meme buildings” spotlights Japan’s Face House and says the public loves playful facades more than plans. Commenters piled on with favorites like Gehry’s Binoculars (now at Google) and a coffee‑pot diner, sparking a fun icons‑vs‑kitsch debate about why whimsical buildings stick in our memory.
Architecture went full internet today as a think‑piece on “meme buildings” — places regular folks love more than architecture critics — sparked a flood of nostalgia, jokes, and hot takes. The article spotlights Japan’s decades‑old Face House, arguing that buildings with “eyes” (hello, round windows) charm people in ways blueprints never will. Cue the comments: one reader immediately dropped Frank Gehry’s Binoculars Building in Venice, CA — now folded into Google’s campus — while another flexed with the roadside legend Bob’s Java Jive, a giant coffee‑pot diner that screams Americana.
The thread’s mood? Equal parts wonder and roast. Strongest opinion: fun beats prestige. People don’t care about floor plans; slap a face on it and the internet will name it. There’s light drama over buzzwords — the article side‑eyes “adaptive reuse” (repurposing old buildings) as yesterday’s slogan — and commenters extend that energy, dunking on jargon while celebrating buildings that look like things. “Icon or kitsch?” became the mini‑battle: some called these crowd‑pleasers cultural touchstones, others labeled them novelty props that out‑meme their own history.
The jokes flew fast: “windows are just building eyeballs,” “my house is judging me,” and “feed the façade” when the door opened like a mouth. Verdict from the peanut gallery: if a building can wink at you, it’s already won.
Key Points
- •The article introduces “meme buildings” as structures with public recognition beyond architectural circles and notes the difficulty of identifying them objectively.
- •Architectural Review’s Dec–Jan issue featured Kazumasa Yamashita’s 1974 Face House, prompting reflections on architectural media use in Japanese universities.
- •An online archive for Japan Architect (data.shinkenchiku.online) offers 23,500+ documented projects; a student subscription costs JP¥3,680 (about US$23.36, £17.49).
- •Face House is over 50 years old, still occupied by its owner, has not been redeveloped, and is located in Kyoto’s Nakagyo Ward; the article remarks on its longevity as notable for Tokyo residential buildings.
- •The article discusses anthropomorphic readings of Face House’s facade and notes that such features can overshadow interest in interior layout; it also mentions curiosity about adaptive re-use in suburban Beijing.