What is left of Rome and the Roman Empire are structures made of brick and stone. They were built to withstand anything, particularly attacks. There was careful design and planning in the construction of this ancient city. The remains speak to this.
In the modern world, we have tall buildings and architectural feats as well; they are not similar, they are just different. In two thousand years, what will be left of the world we live in today? Our skyscrapers, buildings and homes will be just a frame, an empty shell of what was.
As I write this, I am staring at the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. What is left of the incomparable design and building structure is fading into night as the sun sets to the east. The bricks have become redder as the sun moves further east. It is as if I am in Sedona, Arizona – watching the ancient rock formations fade into the purple haze of dusk.
The Forum and the Colosseum have been through earthquakes, fires, wars, floods, pillaging and looting. I know this sounds cliché, but if these walls could talk, they would provide a lot of insight into the past and this, intern, would help us understand the direction for the future.
When the modern world is gone the glass walls of skyscrapers will shatter, the wood frames of homes and buildings will decay and rot while the steel frames will remain standing – lifeless, without walls, floors, windows or character. Will generations to come understand our lifestyle and culture with only small fragments and empty shells? There is no Pantheon, Colosseum or Roman forum in the modern world. We have no pyramids, unless The Luxor in Las Vegas counts, which I am pretty sure it does not.
Even the houses we live in cant compare to historical architecture. Look at the old dwellings of the early Spanish and Mexican – Americans. The pueblo homes, of mud and sticks, dried from the desert sun still stand, and aide in understanding a culture and way of life. Cookie cut and manufactured homes will be left to learn from the modern world. What was once a home will become nothing more trash and litter the grounds where a subdivision once “thrived.” These homes are able to stand up against the natural course of the world.
The buildings in front of me, from the Roman Empire were built brick by brick and stone by stone and over a long period of time. Houses in the United States go up in a little over three months in the “thriving” subdivisions. All a contracting company needs to do is throw up a frame of cheap 2x4 plywood, add some insulation, and nail in some drywall to cover the insulation and frame. Now the frame has become a shell. If the house is in the southwest, it may be sprayed with some cement and eventually given a stucco finish. If the house is in Boise, Idaho, cover it with flimsy plastic/aluminum side panels that resemble wood and consider the job done.
What will become of these structures in the modern world in the next 2000 years? Or even the next 200? I guess the good news is that I wont be around to see it.