That building at forty storeys wouldn’t work. Too heavy. The bastards needed height. And pre-fab materials were just too inexpensive to pass up.
Despite all that, yes, short term economics over taste.
Discussion
Pre-fabbing marble, perhaps not here by in countless other examples? I'd love to see it.
I meant steel materials. You don’t see buildings made of stone/marble of massive height. Once construction needed the height, the builders soon got their hands on pre-fabricated pieces made of various metals.
Height kills all those ornate reliefs and the like because you can’t see that fancy shit if it’s a hundred feet above you.
Dimensions can kill aesthetics.
You don’t see anything like this even with smaller buildings today, built by the richest people. The billionaire mansions from today don’t compare. Cathedrals don’t compare, nothing really.
That I agree with. I wouldn’t at all deny the high time preference, shoddy building practices/materials of today. The picture looked like a location in a city, so my comments were more directed toward the change in the appearance of cities over time, due somewhat but not wholly to the demand for capacity. Saif had a good podcast not long ago about modern architecture that was very interesting to listen to. But I def agree with you that even apart from my observations, you’re right, people don’t build for quality and endurance.