To the list of things money can't buy, add this: good taste in architecture.
In fact, rich people generally love bad architecture, Kazuo Matsubayashi says. And powerful and intelligent people tend to love bad architecture, too.Matsubayashi, a professor in the University of Utah Graduate School of Architecture, knows some people might be offended by his remarks. That's why he ducked behind the podium several times during his talk Wednesday at the university's "Works in Progress" lecture series. He needn't have worried, though. Most of us probably figured he wasn't talking about us.
Which is exactly Matsubayashi's point. Most people think they have good taste when it comes to architecture and have strong opinions about it. But we don't know anything. We don't know a lintel from a lentil. And we aren't very imaginative. We tend to like what we've already seen before.
We like, for example, new buildings designed to look like old ones.
We like old buildings just because they're old.
The Salt Lake City-County Building is a "mediocre building" that everyone thinks is great, Matsubayashi says.
But it's not as bad as the Scott M. Matheson Courthouse at 400 South and State, a structure that vaguely resembles the Taj Mahal.
Here's the problem with the courthouse, he says: The columns look like marble but aren't. It seems ironic, he says, to have a fake facade on a building that is supposed to symbolize justice. And besides that, he asks, why have pseudo-Greek columns on a building built in the 1990s?
The design was chosen by what Matsubayashi characterizes as an "unqualified selection committee." The kind of committee that has chosen many an uninspiring public building in America, he says. Luckily, two later downtown design competitions -- for the future main library and for the expansion of the federal courts building -- benefitted from good selection committees, he says.
In general, says Matsubayashi, the rich, the powerful and the intelligent often have a background in the arts, literature and music, but not buildings. "They don't understand what architecture is about" -- but think they do.
In general, people tend to like familiar, nostalgic designs, he says. That's why one of Matsubayashi's favorite public structures, the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., bothered Ross Perot and other people in power when the design was first unveiled.
Architecture that is "pseudo-historical," he says, "is a poor use of space. To be meaningful to our moment is the most important thing. If we do it just for the nostalgia, we'll just be going backwards." He worries that the planned Gateway project on Salt Lake City's west side may end up looking like a theme park if the architects try to mimic historic buildings in the area. It should perhaps be mentioned here that Matsubayashi likes what the rest of us would probably call "modern" architecture and art. He's the guy who designed the floating rock sculpture at the Gallivan Center.
What are some examples of good architecture in downtown Salt Lake City, Matsubayashi is asked after his talk.
Um, he says. Um. Finally he hits upon the remodel of the Questar building on 100 South. And several of the new branch libraries. And the American Stores building.
Not a big list. We must be more rich, powerful and intelligent than we thought.