Re:Crimes in Concrete
by kevin_thibedeau on Monday May 13, 2019 @11:27PM
(#19906554)
It's cheaper to build undecorated boxes. Calling it high art is just a cover. There is also a skill shortage since nobody has paid for quality in generations. The craftsmen that meticulously laid intricate art deco brickwork don't exist anymore and no modern mason can seem to do as good a job. Instead we get uninspired generic concrete and glass prisms designed to maximize square footage for the landlords.
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Re:Crimes in Concrete
by bdauvergne on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @06:23AM
(#19908240)
Also work and time was cheaper then, they could spend centuries building the same cathedral with nobody complaining about the ballooning price.
Re:Crimes in Concrete
by jonhendry18 on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @06:05PM
(#19914303)
"nobody complaining about the ballooning price."
Very few people would have been in a position to complain about the ballooning price.
If it took centuries there is a reason.
Re:Crimes in Concrete
by bdauvergne on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @08:27AM
(#19908824)
Mostly one: they were patient.
I imagine (but I have no real information on this, so I might be wrong) that cathedrals were always works in progress, on which you could throw a small percentage of your surplus in the good years, and keep idle in the bad ones (or maybe also a bit the opposite, in anti-cyclic fashion). See how the Sagrada Familia is being built in Barcelona (and has been, for 137 years): with an annual construction and maintenance budget of around 25 million, a very small yearly amount for such a huge project.