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Originally Posted by Keith P.
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While I think a lot of the preservation/resto talk is largely BS, you raise an interesting point, which I would sum up as the failure of the architecture and planning professions. We are churning out people in these fields with more extensive and expensive training than ever before, yet there seems to be universal dislike of the things architects produce, while planning has become a circular process of trying things that were tried 50 or 100 years ago and abandoned. Where have they gone wrong?
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Wondering if it's a chicken/egg scenario. Has architecture become dumbed down because of the proliferation of cheap/easy prefab construction materials/techniques and the demand for the advantageous economic situation (i.e. cheap buildings) they have brought about, or has architecture driven said proliferation. Either way there's only so many things you can do with a glass/metal box. Queen's Marque has shown that you can do more by using actual stone/alternate metal cladding, but money has to be spent. In the end they are still confined somewhat by construction techniques that must use prefab materials.
Even though you think everything surrounding old buildings is BS, even you can't deny the elegance and longevity of an old carved and cut stone building. Unfortunately there aren't many (if any) stone masons still in the business of making buildings, nor are there any developers who would be willing to spend the money to build them. The only way for us to have such buildings is to restore the ones that exist, unfortunately. I would be only too happy to let some of the old structures be torn down if it meant we could have something built as nicely as those old stone buildings - but since I know it won't happen I'm not holding my breath...
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