The perils of taking beauty at face value

摘要

Have you noticed that the discussion about Foster + Partners' 'Tulip' has focused on what it looks like and what the aesthetic implications are for the 'heritage environment'? There hasn't been much about the design itself, so great has the fuss been about the fact that you will be able to see the structure from a distance (surprise). This is all part of an unfortunate syndrome which results in otherwise rational people imagining that if they do not like the appearance of a two-dimensional image of a shape, then their aesthetic disaffection inevitably means that what is proposed is wrong and that contrary views should be ignored (shades of Brexit).