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There is a short but most extraordinaryline in the US Financial Stimulusdocument published this year. It says:

“No money is to be spent on beautification.”This is of course apropos money being spenton buildings and infrastructure, not about thecosmetic industry. Now I am, along witheveryone else I know, a huge fan of Obama,and I know he has a lot on his plate, but this is a very worrying line – particularly aswhat starts over there usually finds its wayover here.

What does it mean, exactly? Does it meanthat when selecting an architect you make

sure to pick one who specialises in uglybuildings because beauty is just skin deep,and is something we simply cannot affordright now?

How misguided was the individual whodreamed up that particular sentence? Short itmay be, but it is potentially devastating in itsfall out. Presumably it was penned bysomeone who has not the faintest idea howgood architects design; someone who takescomfort in the mediocrities who churn out thesame formulaic, poorly conceived work;someone who believes such buildings must,by default, be cheaper in terms of fees and

WE CAN’TAFFORDCHEAP AND NASTYThe recession is turning us, and our politicians, into mean, short-sighted people. And this is exactly the right way to makesure it lasts a long, long time, says Amanda Levete

NOBODY HAS THE COURAGETO SAY MPS SHOULD BE PAID AT A WAGE LEVEL THATMEANS THEY DO NOT HAVE TO TOP UP THEIR SALARIESBY MAKING ABSURDEXPENSES CLAIMS

Tom Foulkes salutes Hadrian’s 2,000-year-old Pantheon in Rome, but quietly hopes the brutalist Southbank Centre has a somewhat shorter lifespan

Two-thousand years ago, the Romanscreated the Pantheon and it still dazzlesme today. In many ways, this building

represents man working in harmony withnature. It is a beautiful, graceful design, fullof gentle curves. The technical andengineering skill displayed, the sheerconstruction, the logistics are mind-boggling.For the wonderful dome, they usedlow-density stone to create a magnificentcurved structure that is far lighter thananyone could expect. The columns in theportico are Egyptian granite – not from Cairo,but somewhere way down in the south. Thevery idea that these enormous columns weretransported in single pieces from the bedrockof Egypt all the way to Rome is astounding.

At a philosophical level, this temple is also a excellent example of humility.Pantheon means “all the gods”. Its creatorswere not arrogant enough to pick a single god to worship; they recognised the naturalworld was far more complicated than they

could understand.The depressingly awful Southbank Centre,

meanwhile, represents a failed attempt bymankind to dominate nature. It is ugly. It isbarbaric. It uses a new material – reinforcedconcrete – which is good structurally, butappalling for external use. Howeverimpressive and shiny the design may havelooked in the architect’s drawings, withinyears it has become a dreadful sight;discoloured and brutal. The harsh, straightlines are completely unnatural. To me itseems inspired by the fortifications of theSecond World War. The huge concretebunkers on the north coast of France arealmost indistinguishable in their design andaesthetics from the Southbank Centre. Thereis an exciting design principle in mimickingnature. I see that in the 2000-year-oldPantheon and I see its antithesis in theSouthbank Centre.Tom Foulkes is director-general at the Institution ofCivil Engineers

WONDER Rome’s Pantheonwas built by an unknown architect inthe 1st century AD, during Hadrian’sreign. It is thought to have been built asa temple to ancient Roman gods andmay have been used as a law court.Since the 7th century, it has been aRoman Catholic church. It is the oldeststanding domed structure in Rome.

WONDERS & BLUNDERS

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construction because that’s how they look.It must be someone who has never

witnessed an architect battle to make everypenny work; who has not experienced thethrill of a project driven by passion notcommercial gain; someone who probablywould not recognise beauty if it were staringthem in the face and someone who isoblivious to the financial and functionalbenefits of clever design.

I know this is all quite obvious but whilewe continue to plough through the recessionthere is increasing political hysteria aboutmoney being spent unnecessarily. And itfocuses not on the really big money, thebonuses and pay-offs to the bankers who gotus into this mess, but on the little things.Like the fiasco of MP’s expenses. This pettydomestic issue has been blown out of allproportion because nobody has the courageto just come out and say MPs should be paidat a wage level that means they do not haveto top up their salaries by making absurdexpenses claims. And by the way, better paidMPs might even have the added benefit ofattracting more interesting candidates, andthat surely would be worth something.

Or take the furore over the idea that thepublic’s money is going to be spent on privateair travel for our foreign secretary. So weexpect him to leave the table early to get the

last scheduled flight home if internationalnegotiations go on longer than expected? Ormaybe hitch a ride back with other foreignministers in their private planes? Or perhapswe could be really frugal and have a foreignsecretary who didn’t travel at all?

It is vital that we are not ground down,either by the crisis or by petty thinking. Thisis the moment to be bold, to think big, tothink diagonally, to be creative about how we

value value and to be visionary whenthinking about how we spend money. A crisiscan be exhilarating if you chose not toparticipate in the gloom that accompanies arecession.

With creativity goes entrepreneurship.Remember, Shakespeare was a rich manwhen he died and Damien Hirst is evenricher. Look at it this way – students. forexample, are always poor but they still partyto the farthest limits of their overdrafts. Theymay have a problem finding a job in anarchitect’s office, but that could open up awhole new world.

We cannot cut corners if we are going tobuild our way out of recession – althoughcurved buildings can of course, cost more!“Beautification”, although not a word I like, isactually what we need most at the moment.

Postscript. I had been tempted to writeabout the latest fiasco involving the Prince ofWales and the planning process. We all knowthat what he has done is wrong – an abuse ofroyal privilege – and that the idea that herepresents the common man is acontradiction in terms, but to respond withindignation is simply to give more airspaceand credence to his ill-thought-throughnotions.Amanda Levete is principal of Amanda LeveteArchitects

PRESUMABLYTHE LINE, NOMONEY IS TO BE SPENT ONBEAUTIFICATION, WASPENNED BY SOMEONE WHOTAKES COMFORT IN THEMEDIOCRITIES WHO CHURNOUTTHE SAME FORMULAIC,POORLY CONCEIVED WORK

BLUNDER London’s Southbank Centre comprises the Royal FestivalHall (pictured), the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Hayward Gallery and is thelargest arts centre in Europe. Its development began during the Festival ofBritain in the fifties and continued through the sixties and its brutalist designhas divided Londoners since. In 1999, Rick Mather Architects was appointedto masterplan its refurbishment.

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