In 1989 HRH the Prince of Wales wrote a remarkable book. It was called “A Vision Of Britain” and it was about the architecture, urban design and landscape design in England, and especially in its capitol city london. One of the most curious things about the book of HRH was not to be found in the book itself, it was the criticism. Britains most famous and distinguished architects stumbled over one other to tell the public HRH was not educated as an architect, nor had he ever made an architectural design of any significance. Therefore his views should be regarded as irrelevant to the development of British architecture.
The fact that so many contemporary architects were so fiercly criticizing his HRH without even refering to the actual content of his book made me think there must be something very frightening in the book, and so I read it. And then I understood the problem. HRH had developed a very interesting philosophy on architecture, very much attached to social, ethical and environmental aspects of society. Yet, his vision was completely the opposite of what most modern architects just want to do. HRH basically said, we should not renew our cities, just for the sake of renewal. We should not change our landscapes, just for the sake of change. Instead, we should preserve what has proven to be good, and learn from the mistakes we make in our architectural experiments. A vision that makes perfect sense for a nation with such a rich tradition of architecture and landscape design. Yet, not a popular view among modern architects who wish to display their ego’s by designing ever more extravagant buildings.
So, why this long introduction when the actual subject of this article is the famous view from Greenwich to London. Well, perhaps HRH was not right about all the points he made. One of the cases he mentions is that development of the docklands with 600 feet towers ruins the famous view from Greenwich Park across the capitol. A short while after the tallest of these towers (One Canada Square) was completed, I had the opportunity to visit Greenwich park and admire the view over London. Although the vision of HRH had influenced me a lot, I thought the view was still, or even more, of a breath taking beauty. The small picture above can not possibly display what it looks like in reality but you get the idea. For just moment I thought how wonderful it would be if even more of these dreadful towers would ruin the view from Greenwich to London…