![]() Introduced in California in 1953, McDonald’s design was influenced by ultra-modern coffee shops and roadside stands of Southern California, then the heart of budding fast-food chains. It's the oldest McDonald's still in existence. “That included neon signs and the shape of the building.”Ī leading example: McDonald’s design, with its two golden arches sloping over the roof of its restaurant, a style known as Googie.Ī historic 1950's McDonald's restaurant in Downey, California, shown in 2015. “The buildings had to be visually strong and bold,” said Alan Hess, an architecture critic and historian. Large companies came to dominate highway restaurants through a strategy known as “place-product-packaging” – the coordination of building design, decor, menu, service and pricing, according to John Jakle, the author of “Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age.”įast-food chains’ buildings were designed to catch the eye of potential customers driving by at high speeds and get them to slow down. “They’re like Monopoly homes.”įast-food restaurants developed and expanded in the mid-twentieth century with the explosion of car culture and the development of interstate highways. “They’re soulless little boxes,” said Glen Coben, an architect who has designed boutique hotels, restaurants and stores. Call it the gentrification of fast-food design. ![]() The chains now sport nearly identical looks. One critic has called this trend “faux five-star restaurants” intended to make customers forget they are eating greasy fries and burgers. Many are shaped like boxes, decorated with fake wooden paneling, imitation stone or brick exteriors, and flat roofs. ![]() Most fast-food restaurants are built to maximize efficiency, not catch motorists’ attention. Goodbye bright colors and unusual shapes. ![]() ![]() Shifts in the restaurant industry, advertising and technology have made fast-food exteriors bland and spiritless, critics say. Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg/Getty Imagesīut the fast-food architecture of today has lost its quirky charm and distinctive features. Pizza Hut's red-roof restaurants have come down, replaced by sleek new designs. ![]()
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