All architecture is about the future - but about the past too

摘要

'We do not quite say that the new is more valuable because it fits in; but its fitting in is a test of its value - a test, it is true, which can only be slowly and cautiously applied, for we are none of us infallible judges of conformity.' TS Eliot, a poet who thought more about time and its implications than most, would have been an interesting judge for The Architectural Review 'New into Old' awards, featured in this issue. While some of the selected entries clearly fit into their surroundings, that is by no means true of all of them, particularly the extraordinary Zaha Hadid Architects Port Authority building in Antwerp, a predecessor of Herzog & de Meuron's ambitious Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, reviewed earlier this year. But then does Eliot's poetry 'fit into' the canon of English literature? It may not have seemed so when written, but it does now.