“The demolishing is a decision of easiness and short term. It is a waste of many things – a waste of energy, a waste of material, and a waste of history. Moreover, it has a very negative social impact. For us, it is an act of violence.”
The statement of Anne Lacaton, co-winner of the Pritzker Architecture prize in 2021 declaring that demolishing is an act of violence, questions the standardization of once distinctive places which were culturally identifiable. Compromising such legacy defies the role played by cultural urban attributes and neglects the transactional relationships shaped by our environment. Standardized and emotionless places poorly contribute to enhance social ties. They can hardly provide narratives helping to perceive our roles, shaping our motivations. They lack the symbolic significance of building a sense of belonging. They are nonsense places.
Shooting place: Paris, France
