Do not get me wrong, architects. I like you as a person. I think you are nice, smell good most of the time, and I like your glasses. You have crazy hair, and if you are lucky, most of it is on your head. But I do not care about architecture. It is true. This is what I do care about:

* burritos
* hedgehogs
* coffee

As you can see, architecture is not on the list.

On an economic level, there are those that dissagree. I don’t know much about that, but on an urban level, well, malls are anti-urban! They unsustainable. They’re generally awful to look at. And unless South African developers and architects can reinvent the typology, make them more respectful of the uniqueness of place, less ‘fuck you, city’, I’m not sure we really do need any more.

If we really do need more retail facilities, which I’m sure many under-serviced areas do, then we need something other than big-box solutions. But fine-grained, sound urban solutions won’t make Pat and his ilk a lot of money fast. And that’s really what Pat’s after. Money. At the expense of the people who really live in the cities.

You want to proliferate ‘fuck you, city’ urbanism? Well, fuck you, Pat!

They are a pretty terrible way of procuring a building. Imagine a system where you want something but you’re not sure exactly what it is. So you make a list of things you think you want and invite everyone in the world to send you their ideas for what it looks like. You have no other interaction with them, communicate – if at all – by email and, in the end, hope for the best and pick the one you fancy. This is the architectural competition process. It’s similar to internet dating, but less fun.

At least there’s a giant, swooshy roof to distract us from what will inevitably be another faceless box in the landscape.

Perhaps it’s a metaphor for the death of another small town centre. The death of resposible urbanism in modern-day South Africa. The death of another investment fund duped into backing 60,000 squares of unnecessary, ill-conceived, ill-fated retail architecture.

Anyone know who the architects on this one are?

Anyway, Archdaily has a an old, but interesting post on the subject. And this is linked to in the comments.

I’m pretty sure that RAFAA’s Solar City Tower competition entry for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will suffer the same fate as Olafur Eliasson’s Water Fall linked to above.

Does South Africa have a characteristic style of architecture? Is it Cape Dutch, mud hut, concrete slab or corrugated iron shanty? Is it retro-futuristic such as the Hillbrow Tower or modern innovation like the Constitutional Court?

Architect Africa reports that Mamelodi Shopping Centre is now under construction, with completion due in late 2011.

Is there really no alternative to this? A string of giant, faceless boxes in a sea of parking. With no connectedness to its urban context. South African architects and developers are capable of so much more. Aren’t they?

Edit: More images and discussion at skyscrapercity.com. Via rfataar on Flickr.  

I’ve spotted this a number of times on my way into and out of Cape Town CBD. I’ve watched its construction over the past months, and it’s bothered me. I wasn’t sure why. And then they painted the top grey!

I realised that the building has no roof. No top. At least not any meaningful top. Not a top that responds to the scale of the building. It’s all… middle! Well, perhaps there’s a bottom too. You can’t see that from the highway and I can’t really be bothered to go look.

The building goes all the way up and then—apart from that limp-wristed, skinny metal lid—it’s just sky! Simply painting the upper floor grey does not a top make.

Also! Remember to join the Flickr group or simply tag your photos with “yourarchitectureisbad”.