Look at what CAD has done to fast food restaurant exterior design – general design discussion

This is what it has become in the last ten years.

What’s CAD got to do with it? Why blame the tool???

I don’t think it’s CAD but the inherent nature of fast food chains to maintain a consistent look no matter where you go. Sometimes it’s a pleasant feeling when you are far from home and come across a place that reminds you of a familiar site, say your neighborhood Starbucks.

its the tool behind the tool that is the issue

With risk of being Captain Obvious here, “it” was done by the neverending pursuit of cost reduction of modern buildings. Assembly of prefab slabs with straight angle cut-to-length manual work at best. Well and yes, there are CAD tools with limited functionality but huuuge material libraries for the “architect” to make drawings, ensuring no “creative modifications” find their way into the design. If any profession is soon to be replaced by AI, this is it.

I think your ire should be directed at the business model. There are multiple companies that offer everything from drive-thru’s to office parks in a prefabricated fashion where the slowest impediment is the permitting process. It takes a lot of burgers to makeup a year of land lease payments. To be clear p, I too abhor these “designs” but AutoCad is hardly the problem.Franchises paired with contractor designers over real architects puke these things out.

I’d much better prefer this; Kyoto Starbucks…
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Engio has it right. These are preformed and finished slabs, coupled with expansion membranes as joints. Easy to put up, easy to maintain, simple designs (why does a fast-food restaurant need the crafted look and materials of fine dining?)
Personally, I like the refreshed designs – even the subtle similarity looks good to me.

Separating the customer from the employee in this business model.

You can see why the above approach was adopted.

There are an abundance of these design outcome videos all over the net. CAD and the tools that operate it are among the many purveyors of this current design/business model. Too many flaws to count in this insidious model of failure. This problem has gone viral all over the globe. Yikes!

Anyone know if there’s a way to block users on this site?

Yes, it’s in the settings menu. Useful.

I think that fast food restaurants look way better now than when I was a kid.

That was not caused by CAD, nor is it bad just because of faded magazine colors. In my memory, it was just as bad in real life when it was brand new. Thank god that one thing in our society has improved to be less kitschy and ornate.

I would also note that the old school McDonald’s in my neighborhood was just redone last year. First, the original design had a remote kitchen, not dissimilar to the the Taco Bell in the earlier post. It had a conveyor belt from the kitchen to the counter…very weird.

The new McDonald could have been one of these prefab boxes and I’m sure that it does have some pre-fab pieces, but they developed a unique diagonal floor plan that first the lot. I’m sure there isn’t another one like it.

It’s interesting to see how CAD has influenced fast food restaurant designs in just the last ten years. The technology allows designers to play around with different styles and layouts, resulting in buildings that are not only more functional but also more visually appealing.

What a ridiculous take.
As if all the top architecture firms that make more organic and complex forms aren’t all using CAD…