29 August 2018 - detail work 2

Fine work in general has declined since early in the 19th century. Consider the Cologne cathedral: The 19th century decorative details, though fancy, pale in comparison to the medieval work. The 20th century brought mass production, and today the decorative details of a great building are reduced to an LED light show and a few sculptures for the “impressive” atrium. If the trend continues, it will be worse than Brutalism; we will build only identical rectangular prisms, like children’s blocks but all the same color.