Resentment is building

Thanks for the article on Thom Mayne’s architecture (“Going Public,” July 25); now I know whom to blame. Nicolai Ouroussoff fawns over the “hulking” new Caltrans building, a looming, sullen structure I call the Death Star, and praises the new Science Center School, which looks unfinished (and always will). Its saving grace is that it is “partly buried ... so it blends with the Exposition Park’s Rose Garden.” (Couldn’t they afford to bury more of it?)

Mayne’s latest works don’t speak of the pleasure of shared public spaces, or the aspirations and ideals of our culture. My guess is that Los Angelenos will deem these unpleasant structures as beloved and attractive as the Four Level Interchange -- functional, cost-effective, but the view is much better looking out from them than for those passing by who must gaze at them forever.

Larry Herbst

Pasadena