Deviation Actions
Problem with futuristic architecture is scale and materials
Scale, often these grandiose designs seem impressive; but as we approach them their industrial facets are exposed to the casual observer. Upclose it’s……hideous
Buildings whose pieces aren’t designed to human scale……..lose aesthetic. Because no conceivable aesthetic details even Modern ornament would be wildly expensive to do and maintain; they’re too prone to degrade. Another is the bigger the building the cheaper it has to be to build per square foot. So it requires a Cheap building material. Besides being unattractive upclose, these modern materials have short life expectancy. Since they don't age gracefully.
To answer this, let us first make a short list of old and new building materials:
Old: Limestone Marble Lime concrete Clay bricks and tiles Slates Sandstone
New: Portland cement concrete Steel Reinforced concrete Reconstructed stone Pre-cast concrete Sandlime bricks Stainless steel Aluminum Laminated plastics
the best building materials are practically inert, whereas the great defect of all modern materials is their high coefficient of expansion.
This means that their seasonal and diurnal expansion and contraction is such that expansion joints are essential. Even a modern brick wall has to have expansion joints every 30 feet. This in turn breaks up the monolithic nature of any structure into little isolated blocks with expansion joints. The weathering and attrition at these joints is an obvious long-term weakness, whereas a traditionally built structure has none of these problems because the matrix is lime instead of cement. Think of the Pantheon in Rome, built in brick and lime mortar. It has a diameter of 142 feet and has stood for nearly two thousand years. No reinforced concrete structure could last anything like so long because once air and moisture have penetrated to the reinforcement there is nothing which can permanently inhibit its breakdown. It does not even make a good ruin!