What? Shrine of knowledge seems AMAZING . How could it no longer be as good?
Because:
(1) a new player doesn't need efficiency: they need to fill as much space as possible with as much FP
-or- Attack stat as fast as they can to speed up their progress.
(2) by the time efficiency becomes a concern you'll be wanting to go for Multi Level buildings which are far more efficient than SoKs
Average Daily Specials per event: 10
Halloween: Dark Doorway. You could get 30 FPs from 10 Doorways instead of 10 from SoKs
Soccer Event: Hippodrome. 2 FPs per middle track. Don't worry about Lvl'ing the main building until later on. Just get two Lvl 1 end pieces and fill up with middle tracks, 16 FPs right there
Forge Bowl: Terracotta Vineyard.
Get the Diamond Coach to double your Daily Specials. 1-2 base buildings plus +/- 20 Lavender chain attachments would make 80 FPs in a single event
Summer Event: Get the Pirate Hideout + as many Fisherman's Pier as you can manage to get. If you got 9 chain attachments + 1 base building next year that's 36 FPs
Fall Event: Harvest Barn Set. Get the fields pieces and place down a combination of Wheat Field + Begonia Bench + Autumn Scarecrow + Ochre Field. 7 pieces would provide 10 FPs plus goods and attacking boosts.
Winter Event: Train + 9 cars would provide 18 FPs
St. Patricks: Moot point, different system
Wildlife Event + Spring Event + Archeology: If you look through the main buildings each year, you'd get just as many FPs going for the last main building offered as you would going for SoKs. Those main buildings like the Ferris Wheel and Eagle Mountain etc would then also provide other bonuses in addition to FPs
Oh yeah. Log cabin. You could get a Log cabin in Wildlife which is essentially the same as Dark Doorway but with a added supply boost
If you get a SoK, do use it if you have the space to do so and you're not sacrificing something better to put it down. You're going to get Shrine of Knowledge through Grand Prizes just by completing the event and aiming for everything else anyway