By Design

Perhaps Nicolai Ouroussoff could contain his nascent philosophical musings and prodigious use of metaphor in each article long enough to concentrate on the primary purpose of a critic and simply answer the question: Is it good architecture or bad architecture and why?

The new TBWA/Chiat/Day complex (“A Workplace Through the Looking Glass,” Jan. 31) is hardly the “corporate utopia of the future” but a crude, jumbled reworking of the “shopping mall” aesthetic now being pressed into service for those with a “Peter Pan” complex. Everything about the design speaks of budgetary constraint as opposed to thoughtful architectural intent.

TOM ROBERTS

Beverly Hills