My boss would coldly say 'Do you mind removing brake pedals from your car to make it prettier'?
Funny. I inferred the tone as having levity. One, or both, of us is projecting.
I think it is a nice remark :-). Sometimes the design has to make a little concession, sometimes the construction. The best engineers are those that think along and try to find solutions, the best architects have some understanding of what is possible. And often 'everything is possible, it is just going to cost a lot'.
It's much less funny when one knows that one such "star architect" back from that time (George Matei Cantacuzino for those interested, here's his wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Matei_Cantacuzino) was in charge of designing the Carlton building in downtown Bucharest. Only 4 years had passed since the building had been finalized when it collapsed as a result of the November 1940 earthquake. Cantacuzino himself had an apartment in that building but fortunately for him he was out the evening when the earthquake happened so he escaped. He risked prison-time after the whole ordeal, but then we got into war with the Soviets (not such a bright idea) and nothing came out of it. Here's the wiki page for that Carlton building: https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blocul_Carlton (it's in Romanian, but it has photos with the building itself and the earthquake's aftermath).
Point is I'm sure that the architects can very well handle a small joke as long as they're aware that people's lives depend on their work.
Can't say I am thrilled by the book under review. I've seen it in bookshops and it's far from offering a critical account of engineering. More like someone quite innocent and enthusiastic who has drunk the kool-aid of the macho, Cartesian, ethically oblivious engineering tradition. Rowan Moore's faint praise is appropriate.