A medieval Gothic monastery built using CAD / CAM

> beautiful things

My first association is "fake" - which _is_ appropriate to describe (especially the roman catholic) churches (organisations, not buildings). But I guess that that's not their intention ;)

> Hopefully they're entitled to spend their money the way they like.

I don't know about the US, but in Europe spending money in such a way would be heavily criticised.

The Freemasons today may be obsolete as a revolutionary political force (note Philippe Egalite’s comparison of Freemasonry to a candle and revolution to the sun), but the primary reason Catholics cannot be Freemasons is theological. Freemasonry, despite what its members might claim, makes definite theological assertions that are incompatible with Christianity, and specifically, Catholicism.

[0] https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/what-are-the-masons...

> there are several specialists from Turkey, Iran and other Middle Eastern states who can still do

That makes it sound like somehow only those people can carve stone? That is far from the truth.

Look at this guy for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTCVaDTxTC4

He is a young fella somewhere in a UK happily knocking on stone until it becomes part of a cathedral. It is merely an economic decision how many of the like of him we wish to pay for.

It always was an architectural movement influenced by political motivations: reaction to nostalgic architecture of the 40s and low cost social housing influenced by socialist principles. It was pretty much imposed in uk by the government after the war and created a series of terrible housing estates in which crime proliferated (because they are impossible to police). Brutalist aesthetic became a thing long after, as an acquired taste.

Also tbh when people think of brutalist aesthetics they usually think of the same few grand building (like the Barbican Centre in London) that costed a lot of money, are constantly maintained to this day and are kind of an one-off. The day to day reality of brutalism, unfortunately, are huge blocks of high density houses in terrible maintenance conditions (reinforced concretes dissolves easily and leaves leaks and rusty rebar exposed) that cannot be replaced anymore.

I know where you're coming from, but I'm not sure I agree.

Traditional medieval cathedrals were built right on the limits of the materials, skills and labour available and still took generations and sometimes still collapsed due to overambition: especially lantern crossings, which are heavy and only supported in the corners.

Builders of cathedrals used the cutting edge tools and techniques of their days. If they'd declared, say, vaulted ceilings "cheating", they wouldn't have done what we see today.

I don't see a tension here: to them, perhaps, the monks are using skill, tools and material God made available to them to do the best they can (also considering the labour force God has not given them). Rejecting God's offer of tools that can make a better cathedral would be like a medieval architect swearing off a horse-powered crane to get a heavy keystone in place.

And for that matter, Gaudi's Sagrada Familia is only as complete as it is due to CNC stone cutting and other modern machinery.

I just wish, considering these kinds machines exist, that we could have them used to make beautiful building again in general, rather than always plumping for a variation on a glass-and-steel box (perhaps it's simply about the cost, but I do wonder if it's also about what's even possible to draw in AutoCAD for a normal architect!).