性吧电台

Much of the fuss about Chelsea Barracks has died down. A Labour luvvie aristo is not going to get the heir to the throne鈥檚 wrist slapped in a make-believe constitutional court because he lost a big contract. Local residents will get a chance of a decent scheme that sticks to the planners鈥� brief and feels like Chelsea instead of anywhere in the world. They should by rights get a say in what happens.

But there鈥檚 much more to Chelsea Barracks than a stand-off between expensive computer pictures of a glass-and-steel scheme and a quick napkin sketch of monolithic classical blocks. Perhaps we can peer through the fire and brimstone and see if there鈥檚 a bigger message out there.

Memories of the prince鈥檚 first foray into the architects鈥� closed shop still live on with the oldies. They鈥檝e never forgiven him for letting public opinion into their exclusive world. But this version of 鈥淭he Prince of Wales vs the Modernist Establishment鈥� is quite different from the last time. The world has changed, the Prince of Wales has an active and knowledgeable Foundation, lots of quite well known architects don鈥檛 remember all that Hampton Court stuff (and don鈥檛 care), modernism has had a good second run in the New Labour wonderland, politics is a mess and the economy is a disaster. All these things have to be connected. You never step in the same river twice.

There may be a certain schadenfreude in seeing a big beast brought down, but are we seeing something more than a mega firm losing one of its many contracts?

Paternoster Square, the great hope from the last spat, bit the dust because the last big recession came along at just the wrong time. The plan survived but the traditional buildings were replaced by dreary right-on modernism. This time, when the dust settles, we鈥檙e likely to be coming out of a recession. In the meantime, traditional urbanism has become the only new thing in architecture that can really be called a movement. In America it鈥檚 called 鈥渘ew urbanism鈥�, in the UK it鈥檚 sometimes called 鈥渟ustainable urbanism鈥� (what isn鈥檛 called 鈥渟ustainable鈥� nowadays?) and sometimes just 鈥渦rbanism鈥� (as a contrary to 鈥渦rban design鈥�).

This movement goes way beyond the small group of surviving traditionalist architects but it does share with them the glaringly obvious idea that the past might actually have some pretty good lessons for the future. It looks like this is going to have a big part to play in the way this all shakes down.

While there may be a certain schadenfreude in seeing a big beast brought down, are we seeing something more than a starchitect鈥檚 mega firm lose one of its many contracts? Can this in any way be connected with the cancellation of Foster鈥檚 Moscow skyscraper? Is there some relationship between this and the scrapping of Hadid鈥檚 Dubai Opera House? Is the disaster of Vi帽oly鈥檚 Colchester banana or Alsop鈥檚 ironically named and empty arts centre 鈥� The Public 鈥� going to convince strapped-for-cash public funders that they can鈥檛 keep splashing out taxpayers鈥� money on overbudget architects鈥� ego-trips?

The way it鈥檚 going is that good places matter more than big names, and Chelsea Barracks, with all its publicity, could be the watershed

There may be life for starchitects for a few years yet as desert monarchs take time to catch up with the mood of the times, but the way it鈥檚 going is that good places matter more than big names, and Chelsea Barracks, with all its publicity, could be the watershed for the new era.

Is the humbling of Rogers going to signal a new dawn when just being famous is not going to be enough to allow you to drive over local people, and conspire with star-struck bureaucrats to flummox elected committees? One thing that hasn鈥檛 changed much since the eighties is public taste for architecture. There鈥檚 good research evidence for this and any cultural historian will tell you that fundamentals like this don鈥檛 change quickly.

Architects have been very clever at keeping the likes of Quinlan Terry out of the picture. The ancient lord even used his power and influence behind the scenes to try and do just this to Mr Terry (people in glass houses shouldn鈥檛 throw stones). At the same time they snuggle up to politicians and civil servants telling them that 鈥渨hat matters is quality not style鈥�, which is really saying, 鈥渄on鈥檛 tell us what style to use, we鈥檒l do whatever we like and call it quality鈥�. And in the New Labour wonderland, bureaucrats always win. Will the Conservative鈥檚 power-to-the-community agenda now stretch to design?

We don鈥檛 know how this will turn out. But even died-in-the-wool modernists aren鈥檛 coming out for Rogers鈥� design. Something鈥檚 in the air 鈥� and nothing will be the same again.