What could possibly be bad about recreating an example of great design, asks Michael Miner, who was criticised by Aaron Betsky for wanting to resurrect a Frank Lloyd Wright building.

Has it already been almost two years since Aaron Betsky wrote a Dezeen piece criticising both my efforts at rebuilding the demolished Frank Lloyd Wright-designed pavilion in Canada's Banff National Park, as well as those by a New York architect to rebuild Penn Station and restore several city blocks in Manhattan to their original grandeur"
I've been busy doing other things, but I think now is finally the right time to respond. I would like to share some of my favourite quotes from Betsky's article, and then tell you what I think.
"...we can bring dead [buildings] to life [through digital mapping technology] with such expertise and skill that it will be impossible to tell that they are reproductions." Is it seriously being suggested here that experiencing a Frank Lloyd Wright building through seeing it as a computer-generated 3D model is a satisfactory replacement of seeing the actual building in person" The mere suggestion of that being the case is one of the most frightening ideas I can imagine.
The argument boils down to "Why bother to exist in the real world at all, with all of its authentic wonders, when you can sit home on your couch, put on a pair of futuristic goggles, and experience it virtually". Personally, I don't want to virtually do anything. I want t...