Old Vs New - Why Buildings Don't Look Like They Used To?
The Port of Liverpool Building, built in 1907
Although sleek and striking, it is often said that modern buildings are nothing compared to their predecessors, but with enormous leaps forward in engineering, why are modern buildings nothing like the traditional imposing stone structures we love so much?
Trailblazer asked Adam Morgan, co-founder of leading architect firm Studio RBA for his opinion:
Studio RBA’s Adam Morgan
‘Firstly, you have to start with the purpose behind the building. For example, when Liverpool was Britain’s second city wealthy merchants would commission a building to be built for themselves and stone was the main material. Whereas today the favourable materials are steel and glass. More importantly though, buildings are built to sell in recent times and profit margins are more important than grand obelisks.’
Despite the financial objectives for modern day buildings, Adam insists that with the use of technology, buildings can still display characteristics of old.
‘Our use of technology ensures a greater level of cost certainty which grants us the freedom to incorporate some traditional features such as the layering of cascades.
“Simplicity is the mother of sophistication” - Adam Morgan, Founder of Studio RBA
There are other factors you could talk about such as sustainability or modern building regulations but ultimately, you can’t design and build something akin to The Royal Liver Buildings because it’s too expensive to create stonework like that. Yet, the industry has learnt a lot from these magnificent structures and it has allowed us to produce some ineffable structures like The Shard in London.’