'the Icon Era Is Over'

摘要

I first heard it from Terry Farrell. During an interview last October, we were talking about a recession that already seemed inevitable. "The only good thing about a recession," he said, "is that it gives you time to think about your plans, and take stock. Don't print this, but recessions can be good for architecture." I didn't print it then, and am only doing so now because I've heard it from so many other people. The Japanese architect Kengo Kuma said more or less the same thing when he accepted his Honorary Fellowship from the BJBA in February, and the 2009 Royal Gold Medal winner himself, Alvaro Siza, talked to Building of a return to austerity and consideration in architecture. "I think that from this crisis will emerge another moment," he said. "An architecture that is essential and not reliant on things that are not needed."