We should be wary of "handbag architecture", design buildings that are reusable and embrace micro homes, says RIBA Royal Gold Medal 2019 winner Nicholas Grimshaw.
Grimshaw, founder of Grimshaw Architects, told Dezeen he is "very passionate" about reusing buildings, instead of the trend for handbag architecture ? or celebrity buildings ? that "are only any use for what they're first designed for".
"The most destructive thing is to demolish a building, get rid of all the demolished material, and then build another one," he said.
He also welcomed the construction of micro homes, which he said can give "people a real kickstart", in a wide-ranging interview ahead of receiving the Royal Gold Medal on Thursday 14 February. "Celebrity buildings don't have any relevance"
Grimshaw, the architect of the Eden Project and Waterloo station's International Terminal, is often held up as being at the vanguard of the high-tech movement, an architectural style born in the 1970s that has cutting-edge technology at its core.
The architect now has mixed feelings about the term high-tech and its wide usage.
"It's such a wide expression. I mean, they use if for coffee pots and toasters," Grimshaw told Dezeen. "It got applied to practically everything, even pairs of shoes in the end, which for architecture is not nearly as precise enough."
However, Grimshaw is happy when the style is used to describe alternative...