[Endama]

Is there a middle ground where new buildings could be made with old-school aesthetics? I understand there is a strange Ship of Theseus situation here, but it seems that if the aesthetics are the concern, there shouldn't be any reason why a larger capacity building could be built in the old style.

[bobthepanda]

The problem is that during the wave of modernization we had an entire generation of buildings that didn't need stonemasons, intricate woodwork, etc. As a result, no one replaced existing workers in those fields, and now we have nothing to draw from, at least in the US.

[Endama]

Excuse my ignorance here, but couldn't we just create molds and pour concrete to create the same columns accent pieces? Surely there are technological advancements that have allowed us to mimic stonemasons?

[oh_sigh]

You probably wouldn't want to build buildings with those elements - just have facades which make it look that way.

[chrisseaton]

I think the older style of building relied on a lot of labour (masons) and the cost of labour has gone up much more than other costs, so it's not tractable any more.

[rootsudo]

Cost and promise.