1960s 
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gif on right by brandon blommaert
architecture
New Century Modern Surface Magazine
From Josh Kline's essay of that name in Paddy Johnson's ongoing IMG MGMT series:
Even with syndicated reruns of Japan’s 1990s lost decade playing to a captive audience in the States, pixelated glass shibboleths are still under construction all over Manhattan Island. Computer-aided Contemporary Modern architecture, art, and design continues to flood the worlds of aspiration and luxury. The flows of wealth initiated by the Bush administration (RIP KIT BFF 2001-2009) determined the tastemakers. Surface Magazine sold them on an updated Phillip Johnson lifestyle and the neo-con beneficiaries decorated their new privacy-optional lofts accordingly. Millions of Americans are experiencing culture shock in their own country and they are seeking refuge in the past. What looks good on those walls? Your Safe Institutional Nostalgia Shrine, brought to you by West Elm, Wallpaper, GWB, DC, PW & CR, the Internet and 9/11. Feel better, New Century Modernism.
The essay considers the appeal of Mad Men in an era of downturn and social fragmentation and notes that both our corporate barons and impoverished net-heads are time-traveling to the same era of high design and political incorrectness. Well, you can have the early '60s, uggh.
My own more simplistic take is that period admiration comes in 30-year increments: the '80s looked back to the '50s (Reagan, Memphis furniture), the '90s emulated the '60s (bell bottoms, "emo"), and the '00s enshrined the '70s (Dharma Initiative, Paperrad).
As for the fascination with gleaming, artificial surfaces in architecture: it's easy to see why these buildings get built: contractors can slap together metal and glass much more simply and cheaply than crafting buildings of solid stone with intricate marble facades. As Kline suggests, computer aided design just twists the same old glass box:
Photoshop can change the color of the Barcelona Couch to match the grayscale conceptual painting on the wall and a 3D modeling program can take the gleaming Mies van der Rohe crystal building and twist it into a pleasing shape that evokes “movement” and fractals. The Titanium Macintosh iComputer, “designed in California”, rests in peace easily on top of the glass desk designed for Herman Miller. The Modern surface is back in force.
Except the cliche of the Modern surface has been with us for a few decades and not everyone wants it. Historic preservation of brick buildings, cultivation of greenspace, Palazzo Chupi (yes!), and the yurts and sweat lodges of neo-hippiedom present strong countervailing urges. Beige desktop PCs still dominate in offices (except now they are black) and the true aristos prefer an anonymous or classic style to the soon-to-be-dated "high tech" sheen of Apple and Oral-B toothbrushes. Some artists even prefer animated GIFs of "shitty art from the '40s" (thank you again, troll) to the vaguely sickening Steve Jobs smoothiverse.
anti-sit
Examples of anti-sit devices from google images (hat tip Curbed)
One website calls these "architectures of control in design." No sitting, no leaning, no resting, no skating, no enjoyment, pain, pain, hurt, sadomasochism, move along, you animal. That is the world we now live in, courtesy our fine owners of property.
Empire State Building Obstructed
Empire Obstructed, YouTube video by Aron Namenwirth.
Artist moves to Brooklyn, is fortunate to have Empire State Building view out his studio window, until, after many years, the building next door is demolished and construction begins on a... hotel! Yes, you read right, a high rise hotel is going up in Williamsburg in the middle of the depression. And it's not anywhere near the waterfront. What a senseless waste of a view.
Recasting Andy Warhol's famous film for the age of gentrification and short attention spans, Aron Namenwirth presents a time lapse video record, spread out over many months, of the gradual covering up of his view by a... say it again without laughing... Williamsburg hotel.
Eiffel Tower, say hello to the Eyesore Tower
Anish Kapoor in his Frank Stella wrecked spaceship phase--this will loom over London during the Olympics. It's a much crazier design than this YouTube capture conveys. (hat tip Paddy Johnson)
Update: Here's the Guardian's "artist conception of the artist's conception":
The Guardian says people will be able to "climb" this 30-story structure--not clear if that means like monkeys or if stairs will be provided. For someone who thinks the Klein bottle is an inelegant solution to manifold space this adds about ten more levels of preposterous clutter. It's not bad as an illustration for a dystopian science fiction novel but unfortunately the thing will be built. Not sure if the gray hamburger at the top is a rotating restaurant.
There's also something Steve Ditko about this--the dymaxion loops resemble Spider-Man's webbing in the old comic book illustrations.
"Great Cthulhu's Tower in London inspired dread in the populace, yet crowds were drawn to it like moths to a black flame. Milling about in postures of supplication and ecstasy, the people served as its food--occasionally a giant tentacle would lash out, pulling a citizen into its nether reaches, a place of palpitation and screams."