Comment Overdesign (Score 2) 215
Shit, I remember reading about that in school. Latin class, to be specific - translating a section of Cassius Dio's Historia Romana about its construction. That alone tells you how incredibly old and overdesigned that thing is.
If you build something to last, its not overdesign, its good architecture. The concept of calulating the lifespan of a building is a very new and sad one, since it means you only build stuff that will make you "get your money back" before that time, preferrably within a generation. I know we cant have the old times back, but I am living in a city quarter that was built in the 1880s and most people in my town woul rather live in those "overdesigned" houses than the overprized concrete crap investors spray into the cityscape here. And, honestly, I would sincerely wish my government would build bridges and buildings that were designed to last, not to crumble after 50 years. What are we going to show our grandchildren? "And here was a building called 'the green mall' when I was a child, but when I was fourty they tore it down to build a school there, and now as you can see they are dynamiting that to replace it with an office building"? Regards