Colours

Even with the building as it is now, a sensible colour scheme would have made it immeasurably more satisfying. But colour is used everywhere to disguise the structure, not to express it. There is a veneer upon every visible surface in the building, and anybody who has an eye for the underlying structure will not be deceived by the surface glitter. Long, cold, unnecessary corridors will not be shortened or warmed by waxed plywood half-cladding. The great cylindrical pillars should be accentuated as the chief load-bearers in the building and should impress one with their strength and solidity; but instead have been camouflaged with sprayed cement and paint. Wood panelling has been used in the cafe., and wallpaper and paint elsewhere, to persuade the inhabitant that the walls are not brick or concrete but something else. This amounts to a refusal to acknowledge one's basic materials, and among architects today this is a serious charge.