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A Vision of Britain: A Personal View of Architecture Hardcover – 7 Sept. 1989


Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Doubleday; First Edition (7 Sept. 1989)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 038526903X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385269032
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 2.03 x 29.97 x 23.37 cm
  • Customer reviews:

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Prince of Wales Charles
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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
52 global ratings
NO ONE CAN SAY THE PRINCE OF WALES DIDN'T TRY
5 Stars
NO ONE CAN SAY THE PRINCE OF WALES DIDN'T TRY
This book duplicates the contents of a BBC TV documentary I remember enjoying 22 years ago in America. In it the printed words and many photographs perfectly capture his ironic musings as to what's caused certain senior British architects to discard all the best characteristics associated with traditional British design in vain attempts to find original design solutions for "The National Theatre", etc.The general apathy Prince Charles complains about is confirmed by his book having only one review in the last 22 years. However I did hear the architectural establishment was in high dudgeon at the time and made absolutely sure he didn't bother them again. The proof can be seen on either side of the Thames between the Tate Gallery and Tower Bridge. As every new site becomes available you can be absolutely sure another inept ugly building is on its way up.The most recent insult - Portcullis House - opposite the Houses of Parliament. This weird hybrid reveals all the idiosyncrasies of computed designed architecture. What appears solid on a monitor has a random cartoon quality when built. Its black roof looks as if it were made of enlarged Lego blocks - and sticking-up into the sky are 20 grotesque black chimneys (with unpleasant anatomical associations). Underneath which 3 messy elevations are held together with a pattern of black and white spots. As no human hand or brain put this contraption together (luckily for the architect) no one can be personally held to blame.Further downstream are 2 massive eyesores in what the Prince refers to as a "transatlantic post-modern style" I.e. imports having no connection with English architecture. Why does the "MI-5" building resemble a collapsed green and cream blancmange? Tristan Edwards's treatise "The Things Which Are Seen" has the full explanation. Namely this symmetrical building fell into all the compositional traps associated with "unresolved dualities"."London City Hall" was built long after the Prince's book was published but it does help to explain why no English style has emerged in the past 65 years. Only a very stubborn Lord would recycle 1960's developers' standard steel and glass curtain-walling to house the City's bureaucrats. Flatten out the wildly expensive circular form and it replicates a thousand other banal office blocks spec-builders imposed on every British city after WW2.If there's any fault to be found in the Prince's book it's after the impact of his memorable indignant river trip consoling readers with the modest achievements of reasonable British architects comes as something of anti-climax.Personally I wish he'd ramp-up his Trafalgar Square crusade (saving The National Gallery) and take every incompetent British architect (and planning authority) to task for not respecting our past. Recent visits suggest the mismatched forms and cucumber shapes sprouting from The City will soon become a National Embarrassment. Are no influential individuals prepared to take up the Prince's cause? Had only a few "who care" followed-up oo the warnings contained in this 22-year-old book the current crop of recalcitrant architects might have been given pause to control their egotistical destructive impulses.
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Top reviews from other countries

James Hannum
5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo for the Prince!
Reviewed in the United States on 1 December 2013
9 people found this helpful
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carlo marvulli
5.0 out of 5 stars bravi, bene.
Reviewed in Italy on 18 January 2014
coffeetwo
5.0 out of 5 stars A Challenge For The Future Of Architecture
Reviewed in the United States on 13 July 2023
Barry Sharpe
5.0 out of 5 stars A Sensible Doctrine
Reviewed in the United States on 19 December 2012
7 people found this helpful
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Eyeleos.com
5.0 out of 5 stars KIng Charles 3 - the most underrated monarch.
Reviewed in the United States on 1 January 2023
One person found this helpful
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