The sum that the chip manufacturer Intel wants to invest in Magdeburg in the next few years is enormous: 17 billion euros, in the end possibly even 80 billion euros, are to flow into the construction of semiconductor factories.

However, the American group does not seem to have a penny to spare for architects who deserve this professional title.

The exterior views of the new factory that have been published so far have turned out to be depressing.

The main entrance leads into a bulky office wing, like the ones hearing aid manufacturers or cosmetics companies could set up in any commercial area. The facade comes with a combination of white sheet metal panels and blue sun protection glazing.

The box-shaped production halls that can be seen in the background are apparently to be covered with a skin of gray metal.

One remembers wistfully the times when large companies like AEG had representative factory buildings designed by architects like Peter Behrens.

The will to design was not just limited to the outer facades, even in the catacombs, where hardly any workers set foot, effort was made with details.

And even in the post-war period, when money was tight, the factory owners cultivated creative ambition.

Egon Eiermann's handkerchief weaving mill in Blumberg, Baden, which has since been demolished, was an example of this.

It is not possible to date exactly when builders in industry lost interest in architecture.

It is possible that the fact that decisions are increasingly being made by salaried group managers plays a role in this development.

The few positive exceptions that have been reported in this country over the past three decades speak for this thesis: the furniture manufacturer Vitra in Weil am Rhein, for example, who commissioned architects from the front row not only for their showrooms but also for the production halls , is family owned.

The same applies to the medical supplies manufacturer B. Braun, which hired James Stirling and Michael Wilford for its magnificent headquarters in Melsungen, North Hesse.

You can't blame the state of Saxony-Anhalt and the city of Magdeburg for not wanting to impair their chances of success for the settlement of Intel by demanding an attractive exterior.

But perhaps the builder himself will take a moment to introspect.

Quite apart from the fact that good architecture makes work as such more pleasant, it communicates something about the company's self-image.

Not only by means of pictures, but by direct observation.

The future location on the A14 is already being used by 50,000 vehicles a day.

Would be wise not only to want to impress the occupants with sheer size.