Why do the ruins of some buildings look like ruins and others like a kind of diminished beauty? Is it just the lens of exoticism through which you see things foreign to you? I think it has to do with a kind of balance that's achieved between sky and building, new and old at different heights that works for me. I used to love the bruised charm of an old decrepit mansion in the American South and wouldn't trade it for a thousand and one condos in New Jersey. But those are the bargains we make from a position of luxury. Even I had to eventually trade in my old rusting 1973 sedan for a car that ran reliably and would keep me and loved ones safe.