The next global pandemic is already upon us, causing misery, sickness and poverty around the world, and even leading to outbreaks of war. It has been a “100-year catastrophe” in the making, spreading through our cities in plain sight with unparalleled virulence, leaving a devastating trail of depression, loneliness and crime in its wake. The name of this cursed plague? Boring architecture.
So says Thomas Heatherwick, designer of novelty stools turned maker of quirky shopping centres, who has launched a 10-year campaign to curb the “global blandemic of boring buildings”. Just like Prince Charles before him, whose 1989 Vision of Britain launched a similar crusade, Heatherwick has conceived a multi-pronged multimedia attack: he has published Humanise, a big Penguin book written with ghostwriter Will Storr, made a three-part documentary for BBC Radio 4 and created a website exhorting the caring public to join the movement. “Sign up today,” it pleads. “Add your name to the list of citizens who demand better.” An app has also been promised.
