Mario, it’s so stupid. I dislike architects because their crimes last longer than their own lives.
Sep 08 2012 ·
Photo via La Paseata.
Politicians caught on camera say the darndest things. Like – if you’re Esperanza Aguirre, President of Madrid – that architects “should be killed.”
The Politician was unknowingly recorded while speaking with the Mayor of Valdemaqueda, a municipality of Madrid, about their town hall. The building, known as Casa Consistorial de Valdemaqueda (1998), designed by Paredes Pedrosa, was an award-winner at the Spanish Biennale of 1999. Their conversation (translated by yours truly) went as follows:
Mayor: The town hall? Oh, that thing. Well, it’s gotten prizes, president. Architecture prizes.
Esperanza Aguirre: That’s the only positive thing that’s come from the Crisis, that that’s all over. [...] I have never seen anything uglier.
Mayor: You don’t like it?
Esperanza Aguirre: How could I like it, hidden at the end of a plaza like this!
Mayor: Well, because they’re the architects of the Community.
Esperanza Aguirre: Well, they should be killed.
Mayor: They’ve gotten awards.
Esperanza Aguirre: Mario, it’s so stupid (addressing a person next to her). Do you know why we should have the death penalty? I dislike architects because their crimes last longer than their own own lives. They die and leave us with this.
After a while, Ms. Aguirre tweeted her apologies (which you can see at the end of this post), saying “I would like to apologize to the architects and all those people and institutions who could have been bothered by my commentary.” Followed by, “I take it back, the truth is that I feel very bad for having made those regrettable commentaries, even in a private conversation.”
However the whole story rises the question: Should we have the death penalty for Architects?
Feel free to comment below
(Source: Archdaily)
