VIDEO: Prince Charles Attacks Skyscrapers

Prince Charles has criticised skyscrapers, 20 years after he first made it clear he was no lover of them. He claims some historic sites are being overshadowed by 'carbuncles' as he calls them. Sky's Victoria Gatenby reports.

 

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/video/UK-News/Prince-Charles-Attacks-Skyscrapers/Video/200802214183705?lid=VIDEO_14183705_Prince Charles Attacks Skyscrapers&lpos=searchresults

Well he fooled around on Diana with one carbuncle of a woman but you don't hear us going on global TV about THAT!?!

OK, let's keep this on an architectural level....

Fine - she's usually between the size of a shed and a warehouse, and her smile is reminiscent of a yellowed Frank Gehry building. :roll:

 

Sorry, he's just not in any position to be making aesthetic judgements.

 

As the quote from Ken Shuttleworth: "London is not a museum. It has to be renewed for the next generation, especially as it attempts to become the world's leading city. We can't leave it as it is in medieval times.". Not saying they should demo everything older than 1900, and there should be certain areas of restriction but Charles goes too far.

 

Sorry, but I agree with Prince Charles -- not for his taste in women but his general disdain for skyscrapers. There are some skyscrapers I like, but I prefer "messy/busy/gritty" London neighborhoods like Soho and Paddington to antiseptic Canary Wharf.

They hit on the issue at the end of the video. London is growing fast (not a bad problem to have), and they have two choices. Grow up, or grow out. So do you prefer sprawl or skyscraper? Maybe they don't need 50 story glass and steel numbers, but something's got to give.

Based on the title of this thread, my first thought was he was attacking Godzilla style :wink:

Skyscrapers are not the only way to grow up. A lot of mid-rise, lower multi-story (or storey, since we're talking about London) buildings can achieve the same density without killing streetscapes and street life the way skyscrapers do.

Based on the title of this thread, my first thought was he was attacking Godzilla style :wink:

 

I had more of a Don Quixote 'tilting at windmills' scenario in my head.

 

Skyscrapers are not the only way to grow up. A lot of mid-rise, lower multi-story (or storey, since we're talking about London) buildings can achieve the same density without killing streetscapes and street life the way skyscrapers do.

 

I agree, but is he advocating for that? Or is he saying that he doesn't like any new construction in the place of the older buildings (I'm asking...I didn't pick up a preference either way from the clip)

well london is finally building carbuncles, err skyscrapers left and right, so mr. burns, err i mean charlie better get used to them!

 

as for skyscrapers themselves, there was once a humanizing and streetfriendly little design trick called 'setbacks' that we all seem to have forgotten about. i'd say we need to relearn it with all our clustered tall city structures. we in the usa should know better, but at least london has the excuse that they totally missed the boat on that era so they have no history for it.

When I first saw this I laughed it off probably like most people. Then last night I was walking up Broadway toward Union Square and I was alarmed by what I saw. One of the classic vistas of the New York skyline, intact for decades--the juxtaposition of the Empire State Building and the (former) Metropolitan Life tower, both aglow in their iconic splendor--had been permanently disfigured by a newly-built hideous narrow box appearing to stand almost exactly between them as viewed from the corner of E. 13th St. I guess there are carbuncles and there are carbuncles, but this is an atrocity.

Charles is probably just pissed that cincinnati is building Queen City Tower and the top is supposed to look like dianas Tiara. LOL

 

When I first saw this I laughed it off probably like most people. Then last night I was walking up Broadway toward Union Square and I was alarmed by what I saw. One of the classic vistas of the New York skyline, intact for decades--the juxtaposition of the Empire State Building and the (former) Metropolitan Life tower, both aglow in their iconic splendor--had been permanently disfigured by a newly-built hideous narrow box appearing to stand almost exactly between them as viewed from the corner of E. 13th St. I guess there are carbuncles and there are carbuncles, but this is an atrocity.

 

Do you mean this (tower on the right)?

http://www.onemadisonpark.com/

When I first saw this I laughed it off probably like most people. Then last night I was walking up Broadway toward Union Square and I was alarmed by what I saw. One of the classic vistas of the New York skyline, intact for decades--the juxtaposition of the Empire State Building and the (former) Metropolitan Life tower, both aglow in their iconic splendor--had been permanently disfigured by a newly-built hideous narrow box appearing to stand almost exactly between them as viewed from the corner of E. 13th St. I guess there are carbuncles and there are carbuncles, but this is an atrocity.

 

Do you mean this (tower on the right)?

 

now I'm a little confused (doesn't take too much)...but I think the one pictured is further to the right from where I was standing last night. There are more than a couple of those yuppie dorms going up in the area--one right on 23rd St. almost directly across from the Met tower. The one in question I think is in the teens closer to Park Avenue South. I'll have to check it out some more. In any case, they're pretty much all disgusting.

^^I found a picture on flickr of exactly what I was talking about:

 

I think you're right MayDay, that is the one you pointed out.

Based on the title of this thread, my first thought was he was attacking Godzilla style :wink:

 

Me too!

posted from http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,16888.0.html

^^I found a picture on flickr of exactly what I was talking about:

 

I think you're right MayDay, that is the one you pointed out.

 

i know what you are talking about. yeah, that's the one.

 

i happen to kind of like that tower in and of itself, mostly just because its so skinny, but no question it really does not belong there. a carbuncle by placement!

 

I'm not a fan of London's highrise buildings.  So I'd hate skyscrapers too.

 

I don't know it's a difficult topic for me to decide.  There are times when I like new highrise architecture and times when i hate it.  Parts of London look like the shelf of my medicine cabinet....as does Dubai.

   

    For those who care enough to look it up, Christopher Alexander has an interesting criticism of skyscrapers in his book, "A pattern language"