'neo-Babylonian' architecture

There is a type of architecture of which I am no terribly fond. I don't know if it has a definite name, but ever since I saw it in 2000, going up in the Phoenix, AZ region, I have termed it 'neo-Babylonian' architecture. I base my idea on having seen the gates of Babylon at the Pergamon museum in Berlin, as well as a lot of art inspired by that form of architecture done by Baxa and Brom for the Dark Sun series of AD&D 2nd ed rules sets and adventure modules.

What characterizes this form of architecture for me is the color - almost always sandy colors of beiges and ruddy brown - the form - large blocks of shape, usually only with flat roofs - and the decorative 'towers' - either flanking the usually overly-sized front doors or standing as slapped-on attachments to the corners of the building.

Why don't I like them? Well, their stylings have a lot in common with the recent trend in American 'light' trucks: big for the sake of bigness. All that added stucco-on-lumber is just cumbersome-looking; bronze-age mud-brick architecture in a post-Modern world. Maybe, too, it is because I find fascination with miniturization.

However, as much as I dislike it, I can mentally justify its existence (especially given its coloration and origin of its inspiration) in a desert landscape. It's browns and beiges work well with the desert palette, and the blockiness works well with the large boulders that dot the landscape. However, outside that setting, I find it presence a major annoyance. Maybe it's because I feel like it is merely an exporting of a style mass-produced in one part of the country and imposed (due to the familiarity of architects to that style) upon the rest of the country. Maybe it's because I feel that people who go to architectural school should learn how to design buildings with a local sensibility (or at least with a unique design-sense that adds a particular character to a location) instead of duplicating a style of architecture, thus increasing the level of conformity.

What got me going on this rant? A local Cottage Inn Pizza take-away store is getting its own neo-Babylonian make-over. It looks so out of place and ever so intra-nationally imperialistic, while also managing to make itself quite ugly and almost a personal attack on my sensibilities.