Amanda Levete’s views on the need for “internationally renowned” architects to design the buildings for the Olympic Games are a powerful demonstration of how the job you do can warp your perceptions (“Doing what it takes”, 9 February, page 34).
In the same way as, say, accident prevention consultants see a world of steps to trip down and windows to fall out of, an architect looks at the Olympic Games and confuses it with a set of buildings.
The fact is that almost nobody watching on television will care about what is keeping the rain out; they will be trying to watch the sport. In some ways, the blander the buildings, the less they will distract and the better they will therefore perform. What we want is decent work that will improve the built environment in the area. (And given the present state of the London Borough of Newham, that is not a difficult target to hit.) What we are less in need of are monomaniacs possessed by a burning desire to spend other people’s money.
Roger Franklin, London
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