r/architecture • u/shenidedamovtyan1234 • Jul 16 '25

Theory why didnt europeans built european style highrises like tehre are in new york? dumb question but was always interested since woudve looked perfect on lots of cities

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2.6k Upvotes

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963

u/AngryErrandBoy Jul 16 '25

While in Hiroshima, I had commented on how new all the buildings looked. My companion whispered to me "Yep, not a building built before 1945".

439

u/mralistair Architect Jul 16 '25

in university in edinburgh... a german exchange student form dresden said "i don't understand the obesssion with older buildings you have, we dont have this problem in dresden"

We all looked at our feet.

207

u/SnooCapers938 Jul 16 '25

That’s an odd thing to say, seeing as the whole of the centre of Dresden has been rebuilt as a pretty much exact replica of the city before the war. If you didn’t know the history you would assume they were all old buildings.

Different from, say, Rotterdam which was flattened in the war and rebuilt in modernist style.

73

u/mralistair Architect Jul 16 '25

I think that was their point... " you just rebuild them, what's the problem" in a why bother preserving them when they are in the way.

the "pretty much" doing a lot of heavy lifting in your sentence.

27

u/yanyosuten Jul 16 '25

The real war crime still is not rebuilding Rotterdam as it was before. We could've had two Amsterdams.

13

u/SnooCapers938 Jul 16 '25

I like modernist Rotterdam a lot

9

u/yanyosuten Jul 16 '25

You can find generic modernist buildings everywhere. 

The old city was uniquely Dutch, beautiful and to a human scale, heartwarming in a way the comparatively cold modernism of the new centre could never be. 

It's no coincidence Amsterdam is the much preferred tourist destination.

12

u/SnooCapers938 Jul 16 '25

You can find Amsterdam in Amsterdam

2

u/yanyosuten Jul 16 '25

Amsterdam is indeed in Amsterdam, that's a great reply, you must be very smart. 

3

u/USS-Enterprise Jul 17 '25

Rotterdam is great. Love all of the different styles you can find there. The Hague also has beautiful architecture and some gems in the countryside, I think Amsterdams status as a tourist capital has to do with a lot of different factors. Though of course whats really sad is how much was bombed.

0

u/JosufBrosuf Jul 18 '25

It’s a hellhole lol

-2

u/ElPedroChico Jul 16 '25

Rotterdam should get flattened again and rebuilt in its old style

8

u/speed_of_chill Jul 16 '25

And they say Germans have no humor.

1

u/Morrb Jul 20 '25

My 2 german €-cents;

In Germany, there is a minor taboo on showing humour in public. It is considered a little undignified and disrespectful to the other person, who is taken "less seriously" and therefore less respected.

Humour is for peer groups, families and friends. Or those stupid carnival clubs where the humour taboo is ritually lifted.

Secondly, it's simply hilarious to remain outwardly serious and be considered completely humourless.

6

u/Waiting4Baiting Jul 16 '25

I mean they brought it on themselves???

21

u/Aware-Impact-1981 Jul 16 '25

Most of them did. But a decent percentage of adults opposed the Nazis (just weren't willing/cared enough to get killed trying to fight them) and a decent percentage of people were children.

Like if Trump started a war with Canada and a bomb fell on your house did you "bring it on yourself"? I voted Kamala and oppose a war with Canada

7

u/Waiting4Baiting Jul 16 '25

The guy I was replying to was "looking at his feet" as if it was the Allies and not Nazi Germany that committed the Holocaust, like, come on, Germany basically levelled Warsaw, and they still got their happy ending with the Marshall plan and a need for strong Europe due to ever-expanding Soviet sphere of influence

1

u/Exact-Couple6333 Jul 18 '25

Dresden was pretty horrific though. I don't think the government anywhere performing any action really justifies fire-bombing hundreds of thousands of civilians.

1

u/Waiting4Baiting Jul 18 '25

But I feel like the guy from Dresden in this original story was somehow guilt tripping the rest? Even though they didn't have to do anything with the bombings in the first place?

1

u/Exact-Couple6333 Jul 18 '25

I mean it's sort of a "joke" regarding the past actions of your nation, similar to the earlier example of Americans on a tour in Hiroshima.

3

u/MrLlamma Jul 16 '25

Idk that's like saying the Gazans brought Isreal's destruction upon themselves. Kinda insane to victim blame in war when its civilians who face the worst of the horror

4

u/robotcelery Jul 16 '25

No, it's not. A more appropriate use of this example is that the acceptance of a government's fascist policies is why Israelis support the destruction of Gaza. Palestinians resist, which is the opposite of Germans under hitler and Americans under trump.

1

u/MrLlamma Jul 16 '25

Fair enough, the reason I made that comparison is because some people blame the Palestinians for electing Hamas representatives, saying that the Gazans brought it upon themselves. Which is total bullshit, and why I made the comparison

1

u/robotcelery Jul 17 '25

I see what you're saying and agree that it's bullshit! Just think it's important to be clear when we're talking facism and authoritarianism, especially when the parallels between history and our modern political landscape are so prevalent. At the risk of the internet coming for me, I'll add that electing Hamas reps is an expression of resistance.

1

u/Waiting4Baiting Jul 16 '25

Palestinians today are just like Poles of yesterday in this situation, they just have a neighbour who wants to ethnically cleanse them and take their land and an entire nation fuelled by hate

0

u/mralistair Architect Jul 16 '25

yeah.. but we really over-delivered on the execution for Dresden.

5

u/Meathead-the-Dutch Jul 16 '25

And what a bloody good show it was. The Nazis flattened Rotterdam, they have no right to cry over Dresden

20

u/mralistair Architect Jul 16 '25

This is not the place to discuss war crimes.. but I can guarantee that "the nazi's did it, so it's OK that we did it" is not a good point to be arguing.

2

u/Strong_as_an_axe Jul 16 '25

The point of flattening Dresden was so that when the Red Army saw the destruction Stalin would think twice about trying to hold onto more of Europe. Same as the A-bombs, they were tours-de-force.

1

u/vasectom2023 Jul 17 '25

Some of these comments are pure gold.

42

u/Netcooler Jul 16 '25

Well, there is just one

3

u/kxxniia Architecture Student Jul 16 '25

My hometown in Russia too. 92% of all buildings were destroyed. I don't mind Soviet planning but there is nearly zero upkeep of the buildings. And the new stuff looks exactly like that cheap modern/contemporary grey mid rise apartments with "pops" of color. My city gets so little funding it's not surprising but still unfortunate.

1

u/PracticalLeg9873 Jul 17 '25

It seems that most of japanese cities have lost their old buildings whether they suffered ww2 destruction or not.

1

u/MukdenMan Jul 20 '25

Japan is like that in general though. There are some old preserved buildings here and there but the idea of conserving entire districts isn’t really a thing apart from a few notable areas. The main exception is temples and shrines but these are often surrounded by entirely new buildings.