Alexa that's modernity for ya. Do it quick, half-hearted, milk the profit as fast as you build it, a long term investment is a short term one gone bad. I think the Gulf construction boom is in no small part owed to the ridiculous cheapness of low skilled labour available to the market. These buildings would be way more expensive in the west where you cannot find anyone to work for 200 dollars a month ;) But yes it is sad, I agree with the idea of quality over quantity but I guess that was always a common thread in modern Arab societies. Build it, tear it down, build again. They really hate maintenance, many will admit to it being a bad word ;)

Besides people that good in stone masonry would probably fetch a decent pay anywhere, or the skill just died away like many intricate arts of the orient in the onslaught of practicality, efficiency and modernity. No one bothered to learn it from the masters, it didn't pay the bills.

PM, I believe Pei is an American architect of Chinese extraction. At least Wikipedia says so :P