https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Zayed_Grand_Mosque
But in the West I'd say yes, we have pretty much stopped. One more sign of our decadence. You have to go elsewhere to see this kind of projects.
Isn't it a sign of the opposite? Grand buildings for the sake of being grand sounds more decadent than spending the time, effort and money on something else.
Anyway, I would argue that "being grand" is not useless, and this kind of monuments do have a value. From a shallow point of view, they bring lots of tourism. But apart from that, they have artistic, cultural, symbolic and, in some cases, religious value. They attract people and make the cities they are in more desirable. So I do think not building them anymore is a sign of
That's in the eye of the beholder.
Pertinent HN article + discussion, which I love to revisit every once and a while, even though I do not work in anything related to architecture.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23582942
The fact that so many people from all over the world are drawn to older architecture with "tons of unnecessary ornamentation" makes you think where we went wrong in recent decades.
I think the "form over function" dogma has taken over to such an extent that it's creating miserable, concrete and glass hellscapes that are foisted upon the public by detatched "starchitects". A great point that was mentioned somewhere (maybe in that artlicle I linked) is that unlike other forms of art, architecture is forced into your view, whether you like it or not. If you hate modern art, you can simply avoid that msueum.
With newer stone CNC machines now advancing, hopefully we can recreate the beautiful, intricate craftsmanship of the past, and indeed even develop wacky, creative new forms too and move away from these horrible, bland designs that have taken over everywhere, and made every cityscape look generic and indistinct.