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Originally Posted by Ned.B
^Old world craftsmanship is still available, otherwise we would never be able to repair these buildings, but it is definitely less prevalent and much more expensive today. Computer scanning and fabrication may be able to increasingly replace craftsman in areas such as stone carving to make it more feasible in the future.
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OK, so you are basically saying it's not widely availible which is literally exactly what I just said. You can't build stuff like that anymore because there simply are not tens of thousands of skilled old world craftsman immigrating to the US anymore. That makes it cost prohibitive because the supply of that kind of labor is low. Low supply = high price. We are saying the same thing.
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The Obama Center is not being constructed in Gothic Revival because the style wouldn't impart the message that our former president wants to convey, nor would it have any relevance to his presidency. One could argue whether the current building has the right tone, shape, etc, etc, but a building an a Classical or other historical style isn't going to do the job. It's similar to how a Classical building on the Mall in Washington DC was not going to be able to effectively tell the story of African American or American Indian history.
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This is a great point. It's no coincidence our first black president was named Barack Obama and not "Johnny Washington". Obama doesn't come from a historically oppressed African American heritage, but even he dropped the anglocized "Barry" nickname as he became more aware of his politics.