20 April 2009: A number of the world’s top architects have jointly-condemned the Prince of Wales for using ‘his privileged position’ to intervene in the design process for the Richard Rogers Chelsea Barracks scheme in London. In a letter to the Sunday Times, the architects, who include five winners of the Pritzker prize including Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster and Frank Gehry, criticise the Prince of Wales for trying to interfere with the democratic process. They say: ‘Rogers and his team have played their part in engaging with the democratic process. The prince and his advisers should do the same. The process should be allowed to take its course; otherwise we risk condemning this critical site to years as an urban blight. If the prince wants to comment on the design of this or any other project, we urge him to do so through the established planning consultation process.’
http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/top-architects-condemn
-prince-charles-meddling/5200676.article
http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3138747
Meanwhile Prince Charles will use his RIBA lecture to argue that architects are ‘first and foremost place makers and not designers of buildings’.
http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3140257&origin=BDbreakingnews
