I think it's almost impossible given human biology to expect excellent architectural/engineering decisions from remote teams. You need the in-the-flesh discussions, whiteboarding, leadership, etc.
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I'd love to see negating or supporting data either way, it's just my opinion that if you want a team of engineers (as opposed to a singular dictator) to build you something amazing (C Language, SR-71, Saturn V) they need to be in the same physical location and see each other face to face.
I'd be interested in seeing/reading about cases of good "greenfield" projects where major architectural decisions weren't made almost exclusively by a relatively small number of people, particularly if the number consisted of more than one digit.
[1] subjectivity aside