it's easy to forget that modern buildings have much more complex loads, higher stress weights, and the added benefit of us being able to calculate strength.
it's kind of similar to the idea a 'craftsman' house used to cost the equivalent of 50k, and now a house is 500k. That's down to electrical service, having gas, appliances, modern codes, and more. shit, it's been so effective at reducing random fires that fire houses now have to include EMS for a reason to exist.
it's cool as shit that a bridge over an ocean can last 100 years, do you have any classic examples of bridges or buildings in continuous use for thousands of years? of course not, it would wear out. the buildings that last are directly proportional to how used they are, unless maintained like a religious building.
Being in continuous use makes it more likely that a building will last long, since otherwise people might tear it down to use the stones elsewhere. (E.g. what happened to the Colosseum.)
If you read up on "Roman concrete" you find out that it used a volcanic sand "pozzolana" [1] which is difficult to find in some parts of the world. There was, supposedly, some American professor trying to find a recipe for concrete that was as good as the Roman type but used more available materials. I don't know the current status.
Friendly inflation reminder: 50k in, say, 1950 dollars is roughly equivalent to 500k today. But of course one can argue that QoL improvements like you mention are exactly what makes up (some part of) inflation.
it's kind of similar to the idea a 'craftsman' house used to cost the equivalent of 50k, and now a house is 500k. That's down to electrical service, having gas, appliances, modern codes, and more. shit, it's been so effective at reducing random fires that fire houses now have to include EMS for a reason to exist.
it's cool as shit that a bridge over an ocean can last 100 years, do you have any classic examples of bridges or buildings in continuous use for thousands of years? of course not, it would wear out. the buildings that last are directly proportional to how used they are, unless maintained like a religious building.