Originally posted by Omniscaper
The cube and rectangle are proven structures. I don't hear complaints that New York City looks like a collection of giant boxes or that the Borg Cube is anyless cool. Its how detailed and complex that structure can get that makes it interesting. I'd choose that "giant box" over giant insects (shivans) any day.
See, from an architectural point of view, New York City is so much more than a collection of giant boxes. Perhaps you just haven't looked at those giant boxes closely enough to see that they have a lot of variety and detailing. The Empire State building comes to mind immediately, as does the Flat Iron Building, and the Chrysler Building, and any number of others. The ones that ARE just giant plain boxes are pretty damned boring.
The thing you miss, though, is that ships and buildings really aren't the same thing. One of these things stays put and doesn't go into combat (barring occasional uppity terrorists). The other DOES. Call me crazy, but looking at a giant boring old box just doesn't do it for me.
Oh, and for the record: Borg Cubes are the worst, most boring, most uninspired ships ever. And that's okay, because they're perfectly efficient (spacewise) for a race that goes in for that sort of thing. I still don't want to face off against the SD Cube or the like. I want interesting designs that are dynamic, designs that force my eye to trace their lines and appreciate what I'm looking at.
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