Watched that special on “100 years after man inhabits the earth” a few weeks back. Showed how manmade structures will fall apart as nature retakes the land when man leaves earth. I imagine mcmansions will be among the first structures to go.
Other than nuclear anihilation, I don’t know when Man will be leaving earth anytime soon...
I have to say though, it wasn’t until I did some historic-house restoration, and then I visited Switzerland and Germany—countries with very strict building codes—that I realized how very cheap our modern residential construction is. Sometime in the 1970s I think builders started to get away with building trash in the USA.
In Germany, and especially Switzerland, the houses you see being put up are MORE solidly built than they were 200 years ago. Extremely sturdy houses, with solid wood walls, red concrete-tile roofs large beams—all the kinds of things one rarely finds even in custom homes in America today.
Clearly builders in the USA figured out that Americans are constantly on the move, so just slap up houses that will keep people happy for 5 years or so, and, by then they’re long gone. A typical freshly built Swiss or German house will definitely be here in 200 years, when their American counterparts will be long ago condemned and bulldozed.