No Competition
Architects and others interested in the arts seem to be pleased with Geoffrey Rippon's de- cision not to throw the design of the new Foreign Office building open to competition. Following a similar decision by the directors of the National Theatre, it promises to bring to an end a system which has become increasingly removed from reality. The idea that architects can design a building with only the barest prescriptions about its site and functions is a curious hangover from `festival' architecture. It substitutes fancy for discipline. As the architects who have been com- missioned to design the National Theatre have said, they want, in the first stages, to be closely directed, to be told what is wanted. Patronage, whether private or public, is not just a passive matter of commissioning; it implies an active relationship between the patron and the man he commissions, a dialogue between what the one wants and what the other by his skill and art can supply. What it amounts to is that the Foreign Office building will be real. It is not the job of the Minister of Public Building and Works to ensure that its policifs will be as well.
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