Prince Lambastes Soulless, Dehumanized Architecture

Britain’s future king filled 75 minutes of prime time television today with a scathing attack on soulless, dehumanized modern architecture.

“Too many of our modern buildings are huge, blank and impersonal,” Prince Charles said in one his milder comments in a documentary on BBC television.

Charles, who turns 40 on Nov. 14, has become an influential architectural scourge despite the royal tradition of avoiding controversy.

“We don’t have to build towns and cities we don’t want,” the prince said in “A Vision of Britain,” the 75-minute television documentary he wrote and narrated.

The program demonstrated not only his passionate concerns about architecture, but his television professionalism--slick narration and persuasive writing and delivery.

“There is no need for buildings, just because they house computers and word processors, to look like machines themselves,” he said.

On the River Thames through central London, Charles waxed eloquent:

“All around me is what used to be one of the architectural wonders of the world--London, a city (that) took about 300 years to build. It took about 15 years to destroy (after World War II).”

“What was rebuilt after the war has succeeded in wrecking London’s skyline . . . in a jostling scrum of skyscrapers, all competing for attention.

“Can you imagine the French doing this sort of thing in Paris, on the banks of the Seine around Notre Dame? Or the Venetians building tower blocks next to San Marco?

“When did we lose our sense of vision? How could those in control become so out of step with so many Londoners who felt powerless to resist the destruction of their city?”