But it can often look that way.  It is a shame really.  I mean, the deal is this: how do you make art within limitations?  It seems like a really tricky problem, until you realize that all art is produced within limitations: a sonnet, a song, etc, all have to follow a form.  The trick is making that form beautiful.  More here:

With function prized above all else, the Olympic Village building designs have a default “green” look to them: blocky, all glass, covered in matted foliage. It looks as though the developers simply forgot to design the place.

The field of architecture is experiencing a design crisis, with clients ranging from private owners to cities demanding that architects prioritize sustainability above all else — as if design itself were an obnoxious carbon-emitter. This is partly because high designers and the so-called “starchitects,” who fear that new methods and materials might not comport with long-established styles, are not taking the lead on sustainability issues, leaving green innovation to younger firms with fewer resources. Both well-known firms and up-and-comers lack experience in working with new, often expensive green materials, which has forced many designers to depend greatly on singular and design-restrictive tactics such as “passive design” — essentially, lots of space and windows — to achieve sustainability goals.