THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 

                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994                    TAG: 9406300019 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A14    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Short 
DATELINE: 940630                                 LENGTH:

PEOPLE DON'T LIVE INSIDE ART

{LEAD} In his defense of the aesthetic value of the Nauticus building, Kurt Flechter compares modern architecture to sculpture (``Nauticus-design critic is wrong,'' letter, June 15). But the one difference between the two is that people, not art, inhabit buildings.

We do not live within paintings. We don't work inside sculpture. Architecture should be designed with people in mind. As a contrasting example of form following function, the skipjack Norfolk (which will be moored beside Nauticus) was built to carry people across water, driven by the wind. It has an inherent design of natural, organic beauty and grace.

{REST} The first time I saw Nauticus, I thought it was one of those concrete barriers that the highway department erects to redirect the flow of traffic during construction. My second impression was that it resembled a huge barn intended to hold large numbers of cattle being led to slaughter. After finding out the cost of taking my children there for the privilege of viewing overrated technological wizardry, the cattle analogy seems the most apt.

NANCY HUBER JOLEMORE

Norfolk, June 15, 1994 by CNB