> design taste is driven in large part by common (i.e. not rare) design elements This is empirically false. 'Taste' has not been driven to prefer modern design

> design taste is driven in large part by common (i.e. not rare) design elements This is empirically false. 'Taste' has not been driven to prefer modern designs (unless one looks solely at high-class architects), the two have simply diverged: A study of courthouse architecture determined that “[our] findings agree with consistent findings that architects misjudge public likely public impressions of a design, and that most non-architects dislike “modern” design and have done so for almost a century.” Yet 92% of new federal government buildings are modern. - https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/whither-tartaria https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/whither-tartaria There is zero evidence that architects are trying to create classicaly beautiful, pleasing, beloved by the public buildings, and are simply thwarted from fully succeeding by the cost of labor. Which was somehow not an impediment when our societies were far poorer and less productive. In fact, the evidence points in the exact opposite direction.