When did British architecture become so boring?
From our UK edition
Nowadays, no one takes much interest in the Stirling Prize. But there was a time when the award, the winner of which will be announced this week, was front page news. That time was October 2004. One Saturday evening, at eight o’ clock on the 16th day of the month, Channel 4 went live to Old Billingsgate in the City of London for the announcement of Britain’s best new building. The favourite was Norman Foster’s curvaceous skyscraper at 30 St Mary Axe, already known to everyone as the Gherkin. The competition included Daniel Libeskind’s angular Imperial War Museum North, Peter Cook’s eccentric Kunsthaus Graz and Ian Ritchie’s elegant Spire of Dublin. Some 1.2 million viewers tuned in to watch. Bookmakers were taking bets.
