Pixetera

Recently, I was introduced to a company I had never heard of before, Great Southern Homes, that operates throughout South Carolina. Touted as the 44th largest homebuilder in the US, it claims to provide quality residences at affordable prices.

As I walked through several of its ongoing projects just outside of Clemson, I marveled at the assembly-line nature of the construction process: some houses were already lived in while others had yet to be framed. Most of the laborers were Mexican. No one seemed concerned by my presence or questioned why I was taking photographs — an indifference I could not have imagined happening up north. Architecturally speaking, there was nothing to write home about.

Whether or not these homes provide good value to their owners, I’m in no position to judge. It’s dismaying however to see these sub-divisions springing up seemingly overnight, denuding the land with cookie-cutter houses stretching as far as the eye can see. Great Southern Homes is hardly the first developer to follow this model, and won’t be the last. Whatever pleasure I may have gotten from my photography is nothing compared to what’s wrong with the larger picture.

(Click on images to enlarge.)