Architecture / Arquitectura

Big buildings are an essential part of city life, but now the fashion is to make them as inconspicuous as possible. Here are a couple of examples from Sant Joan Despí, a suburb of Barcelona. (En inglés ‘suburb’ significa ‘afueras’, y no tiene el sentido despectivo del ‘suburbio’ español.)

Los grandes edificios son un elemento imprescindible de la vida urbana, y la moda actual es de hacerlos lo menos conspicuos posible. Aquí un par de ejemplos de Sant Joan Despí, en las afueras de Barcelona.

 

On the other hand, architecture in Britain has stagnated and the fear of the modern is very evident. My home town of Crosby on Merseyside had a stately red-brick Edwardian pile called Alexandra Hall, which was the Town Hall of Crosby UDC when it existed as a separate authority. Later it was used as a functions hall until it was decided that the site could be redeveloped as luxury flats, which is what has happened. But is this an opportunity to provide the town with good modern architecture? Not on your life! The basic intention was to retain the imposing character of the original red-brick structure by erecting a hideous, derivative monstrosity of the kind that can be seen absolutely anywhere in England – new pretending to be old. Need I add that Crosby has more than its fair share of Mock Tudor?

 

Por otra parte, en Inglaterra la arquitectura se ha estancado, y los edificios nuevos carecen de innovación arquitectónica. La modernidad es demasiado atrevida y arriesgada, y prefieren apostar por un continuismo con los estilos y materiales del pasado hecho según las normas actuales de construction. Este inmueble de viviendas conserva, hasta en las curvas de la parte alta de la fachada, la forma del antiguo ayuntamiento del pueblo que remplaza – pero no lo es, es una copia, y es un espanto del punto de vista estético.