Creating viaducts: does ‘big infrastructure’ have to be ugly?

The actual choice being offered (parapet design) is fairly secondary and reporting in the local media implies that most locally regard the viaduct’s overall design as very ugly and careless of the landscape. [...] There are also four options for parapet patterns, which the practice says reference the history of local textile production, the nearby Forest of Arden, brickmaking and livestock farming.’1 To the best of our knowledge (and we would gladly be corrected on this point), this is the first time that a recent public commission has trusted even part of their design to a public vote. [...] We worked up an alternative design of red brick arches for the Balsall Common Viaduct, inspired by the design of the Ouse Valley Viaduct with details borrowed from the Bourne Valley Viaducts. [...] This approach would undoubtedly add cost to the project, in the millions for both materials and construction, however this is a rounding error compared to the overall budget for a deeply disputed and contested project of around £100 billion (a figure that has already risen from £55 billion in part due to the endless local, legal and political challenges that it has faced). [...] A red brick will blend with the browns and greens of the surrounding landscape, an effect which will only strengthen with the patina of age.