It presupposes a false _dichotomy_, one that misunderstands the nature of beauty. A building's beauty will in large part be a matter of its _function_. It it not just a matter of decoration, which is important, but does not exhaust the aesthetic concerns of an architect.
The Pantheon in Rome is an especially nice sign of contradiction, but it is hardly alone.
We are human beings, not some consumerist homo economicus that exists merely to eat, shit, drink, and copulate and in a bestial manner. Let us care about the beauty of our environment. This can be done even within means. Beauty is a transcendental. Those who attack it, or insult it, who denigrate it, who dismiss it are misanthropes and enemies of the entire human race.
The Pantheon in Rome is an especially nice sign of contradiction, but it is hardly alone.
We are human beings, not some consumerist homo economicus that exists merely to eat, shit, drink, and copulate and in a bestial manner. Let us care about the beauty of our environment. This can be done even within means. Beauty is a transcendental. Those who attack it, or insult it, who denigrate it, who dismiss it are misanthropes and enemies of the entire human race.