All of the modern buildings you mention had an immense budget and were intended to be great buildings for generations. This doesn't always work but most of the

All of the modern buildings you mention had an immense budget and were intended to be great buildings for generations. This doesn't always work but most of the time it isn't even attempted. The facades in the article front buildings that would never and could never be in that class. "We have a street frontage, people like the look of it, keep it." Seems reasonable to me when the alternative is "Can an architect with a cost-minded budget do something people will like better?" Because that answer is usually no. (Why? Is a good question to ask.) If people don't like the street frontage, bring it down, have a go! There is rather a lot of preciousness in architecture and it would seem a contempt for what people actually like is in evidence more often than it should be. UX testing on architecture, is that even a thing?