The Ten Architectural Principles According To Prince Charles
Prince Charles’s conclusions regarding architecture and design are essential in understanding how far we have departed from a creative architecture in the last few decades. They are the product of a very sensitive observer of how the environment interacts and influences human beings.
Architectural principles have been a commodity in short supply all over the world during the last fifty years or so. As the principles have become less and less in evidence so the general public and lay people have become less and less able to enjoy the fruits of the labors of architects, planners and other urban design professionals. Nowhere has this been more true than in Britain and it is in Britain that the biggest change in attitude has taken place with the battle for a return to accessible and popularly appreciated design principles being led, ironically, by the heir to the English throne.
Prince Charles has goaded the professionals and demonstrated a strong personal bias with regard to the architecture he favors, but he has provided a set of Ten Principles for urban design which are drawn from well-proven antecedents and which have universal applicability. Any planning and design organization which has a serious claim to respect both intellectual endeavor and popular taste could do worse than to adopt the Prince’s Principles as a starting point for design.
Allied to the Ecological Development Guidelines above, these Ten Principles provide a serviceable warp and weft on which to weave good design. The following are very brief quotes from the Principles:
1. The Place
‘Respect the land’
2. Hierarchy
‘Architecture is like a language’
3. Scale
‘Buildings must relate first of all to human proportions’
4. Harmony
‘The playing together of the parts’
5. Enclosure
‘An elementary idea with a thousand variants’
6. Materials
‘Let where it is be what it’s made of’
7. Decoration
‘A bare outline won’t do; give us the details’
8. Art
‘Art should always be an organic and integral part of all great new buildings’
9. Signs and Lights
‘Don’t make rude signs in public places’
10. Community
‘Let the people who will have to live with what you build help guide your hand’
They are described in detail by Ecopolis Architects, an Australian organization. Many people instinctively recognize the timeless and universal validity of these principles, which is why Charles is fervently supported by non-architects.
For further information about THE ARCHITECTURAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF H. R. H. CHARLES, THE PRINCE OF WALES visit: zeta.math.utsa.edu.
A quick analysis of commercial real estate development in the US:
1. The Place (respect the land): In practice this means flattening topo to make parking, removing all trees in the way (all of them) and building roads.
2. Hierarchy (Architecture is like a language) The design speaks: “Retail colossus am I, Brand Right and right here, drive to me, come inside where there is a fantasy world waiting for you.”
3. Scale (Buildings must relate to human proportions) nope.
4. Harmony (playing together of the parts) If the developer can broker a deal where the tenants agree to a common palette of materials and sometimes forms (usually vestigial Disney-design tacked on) the you get a sort of harmony. It’s a lot like elephants mating. Otherwise no.
5. Enclosure (An elementary idea with a thousand variants) Right on. Exactly. This is the program.
6. Materials (Let where it is be what it’s made of) Here in the US we make everything out of plaster, cement block, and millions feet of fake brick, stone, and wood. It’s all entirely synthetic which is an odd but symmetrical echo of the interior experience.
7. Decoration (A bare outline won’t do, give us the details) Ever heard the description “Big Box” ’nuff said.
8. Art (Art should always be an organic and integral part of all great new buildings) Retail is off the hook since none of these are “Great” buildings. Maybe the corporate charity board will donate money to a museum instead.
9. Signs and Lights (Don’t make rude signs in public places) Sorry, gotta have the biggest brightest sign in the most visible location possible. The parking lot has got to be lit to surgical suite intensity. Otherwise no one can find the store!
10. Community (Let the people who will have to live with what you build help guide your hand) If the planning commission turns you down threaten to sue, then have the broker set up a friendly meeting with the mayor. Be gracious when small concessions are granted to neighbors who will be facing a 25 ft high blank wall from their front door. If all else fails negotiate a better deal with the town next door, they want the tax base.
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