"Today, whatever you can say about Vancouver, you cannot say that most of its buildings are gracious and appropriate to their settings. They are vulgar, cheap, ugly, and even ridiculous. I will not go on to belabour this account with descriptions of corner malls, “po-mo” corporate headquarters, “maxed-out” fourplexes on lots previously fitting one house, and so on. Nor will I bend over backwards finding justification for all this in the “eco-density” apologetics so popular with many wise civic elders. None of them seem to notice the density of disappointment and the envelope of depression that’s been created by the total abdication of leadership by politicians, patrons, and professionals in architecture, planning, and urbanism, the hapless capitulation to institutionalized civic ugliness."
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JEFF WALL ON VANCOUVER’S LAST GOOD BUILDING
Avoiding flowery Copelandish descriptors or empty Gladwellian conclusions, Uncle Jeff instead choses to spit some realtalk on the forces that, in his words, have rendered our City ugly and disappointing. Hat tip to Mr. David Look on this one.
