Let’s be really honest with ourselves: a brief glance at any structure designed in the last 50 years should be enough to persuade anyone that something has gone deeply, terribly wrong with us. Some unseen person or force seems committed to replacing literally every attractive and appealing thing with an ugly and unpleasant thing. The architecture produced by contemporary global capitalism is possibly the most obvious visible evidence that it has some kind of perverse effect on the human soul.
Brianna Rennix & Nathan J. Robinson explain why you dislike contemporary architecture and, if you don’t, why you should, with some truly stunning examples. (via Hunter Baker)
Wasn’t it Prince Charles who said about 20 years ago that the modern architects have done more damage to the London skyline than the Luftwaffe ever did.
There should be a warning that the linked article includes several vulgarities.
Well, if you’re going to read the whole thing, you have only yourself to blame. Heh. No, I’m sorry I didn’t think to do that.
Here’s an article on statements from the Prince of Wales about modern architecture. This may be the statement you refer to.
[Charles] criticised a 1987 scheme by Richard (now Lord) Rogers. “You have to give this much to the Luftwaffe,” he told the Corporation of London Planning and Communication Committee’s annual dinner at Mansion House. “When it knocked down our buildings, it didn’t replace them with anything more offensive than rubble. Surely here, if anywhere, is the time and place to sacrifice some profit, if need be, for generosity of vision, for elegance, for dignity; for buildings which would raise our spirits and our faith in commercial enterprise … On such a site [Paternoster Square], market forces, I would suggest, are not enough … I would like to see architects working with artists and craftsmen, showing that pleasure and delight are indeed returning to architecture after their long exile.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/5317802/The-Prince-of-Wales-on-architecture-his-10-monstrous-carbuncles.html
Here’s the statement you mention from the Chicago Tribune. “It has become a commonplace among Londoners to say that developers have done more damage to the city than German bombers did during the war. The developers have filled London’s streets with boxlike structures that to many appear ill-suited to their surroundings and often are constructed of shoddy materials.” He then cites the quote above from Charles. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987-12-11/features/8704010984_1_london-financial-district-prince-charles-buildings
I worked in London at the time and remember it raised a bit of a brouhaha.