"There is a deep human need for beauty, and if you ignore that need in architecture, your buildings will not last, since people will never feel at home in them"
- Sir Roger Scruton
Today marks 3 years since the passing of this great man
“Human beings, in their settled condition, are animated by oikophilia: the love of the oikos, which means not only the home but the people contained in it, and the surrounding settlements that endow that home with lasting contours and an enduring smile”
- Sir Roger Scruton
"The countryside we value so highly does not just happen by itself.
No farmers - no beautiful landscapes with hedgerows and stone walls
No thriving rural communities - no villages or village pubs
No local markets - no distinctive local foods"
- HM King Charles III
Newly built in Budapest
Skilled craftsmen have recreated the Royal Guard House which was completely demolished during the Communist era.
It can be done - we can build beautiful architecture
“The countryside is not a slice of untilled nature. It is a human institution built over centuries in the image of the people who made it"
- Sir Roger Scruton
"The countryside we value so highly does not just happen by itself.
No farmers - no beautiful landscapes with hedgerows and stone walls
No thriving rural communities - no villages or village pubs
No local markets - no distinctive local foods"
- HM King Charles III
City of London reimagined
While crossing Waterloo Bridge recently, I wondered how the city skyline might appear if beauty was at the top of the agenda.
I subsequently took the train from Waterloo Station and redesigned the city on my journey.
“England for him was no longer a real place, but a consecrated isle in the lake of forgetting, where the God of the English still strode through an imaginary Eden, admiring His works.”
- Sir Roger Scruton