The new architecture of the sacred and sublime

Yesterday was sat reading an article in New Scientist
about Neutrino detectors, which had an truly awe-inspiring picture of
the underground structure full of 1000 tons of heavy water and studded
in photomultipliers. Suspended far beneath sub-artic Canada and
dwarfing it’s attendents, it’s a cathedral of cosmology.

Later that afternoon, I saw The Dish,
a gentle comedy about a rural earthstation’s part in the Apollo 11
mission. That was full of gorgeous shots of the eponymous dish,
scooping up signals from the sky.

I also remember an advert for BT featuring Stephen Hawking that used some spectacular helicopter-shots of Goonhilly.

What is it about these pieces of engineering that is so inspiring and moving, beyond their scale and technical accomplishment?