Jonathon Glancey, the Guardian's esteemed architecture critic, says that the Scottish Parliament Building rivals the Forth Rail Bridge.
Today, given their curmudgeonly approach to Miralles's masterpiece, it is unlikely that Scottish politicians and newspapers will make the comparison with the costly Forth railway bridge. Described, justly, as the eighth wonder of the world when it opened in 1890, the bridge carries some 60,000 trains a year, but requires round-the-clock maintenance. This is Scotland's Eiffel Tower, a structure admired worldwide, a thing of daunting workmanship and haunting beauty. It took seven years to build and 57 men were killed in the process. It cost £3.5m (£285m today), including £250,000 wasted on the foundations of the design it superseded. And yet, who would now dare to call it a waste of money? Surely Scotland deserves to splash out on a world-class design it can call its own again today?
Posted by Paul in Scotland Politics at May 31, 2004 02:17 PM | 1 Comments
