"That the modern world is not all high-tech bling is well demonstrated by the busloads of fast-food splattered gawkers who descend on Stonehenge; 1 million per year. The Visitor Centre feels Australian; in its basic partie it is a decoy, but also a sheep-pen and wool shed to shear the visitor flock of their spare change while dispensing a basic understanding of where and why they are there"
Peter Wilson Affiliate RAIA, Jury Chair
(I thought I noted this before but when I was in the employ of English Heritage they were happy to have received the award but less keen on their customers being described as "fast-food splattered gawkers" and the building to be described as "a sheep-pen and wool shed to shear the visitor flock of their spare change".
I thought the disdain shown was rather informative of the attitudes of the designer class.
Soures: WINNER 2014: JØRN UTZON AWARD FOR INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE – STONEHENGE EXHIBITION + VISITOR CENTRE BY DCM
(As an aside his use of the term "partie" is as written - I presume he means the ""parti pris," usually shortened to "parti" I'm not sure if the extra "e" is an Oz affectation, they seem to add vowels to all sort of words - arvo, dunny, barbie - or maybe he was just overreaching in his attempt to sound sophisticated.
No comments:
Post a Comment