Try to conjure the British landscape and you will probably settle on a building from its distant past, perhaps a Georgian manor house on a sheep-strewn dale or the sooty brick and mortar of Sherlock Holmes' London. British architecture remains a wellspring of nostalgia for those who both live in and visit it. And for writer and popular philosopher Alain de Botton, this is an endless source of frustration.
'Liking modern architecture is a kind of sect here,' the Swiss-born de Botton complains from a cosy brick-bound office in north London. 'It's like witchcraft, or something slightly unusual. Because Britain industrialised so fast there's a tremendous desire for history. But there's a reason things become history.'
As a writer, long based in England, de Botton has dedicated himself to reforming the public understanding of vital themes. His books have addressed love, travel and, most recently, work, and he co-founded a small 'cultural apothecary' in London, The School of Life, which sells books and holds philosophy workshops and secular Sunday 'sermons' on self-development. His successful 2006 book, The Architecture of Happiness, ran in a similarly edifying vein and won him kudos from the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Yet when it came to architecture, he felt compelled towards a more dynamic form of activism. The feeling grew as he explored forward-thinking home design across the world for the television series, The Perfect Home.
'You find very good modernism in Asia. There are some beautiful examples of private houses, blocks of flats and civic building across China and Hong Kong; think of the Great Wall project, which has been iconic,' he says, referring to the Commune by the Great Wall project - 12 strikingly modern villa projects designed by 12 Asian architects. He notes that China's flirtation with Western historical cliche seems to be fading finally as its top earners appreciate the way that home-grown architects can mix elements of Chinese geography and geology with new international ideas.
In Japan, de Botton finds that many middle-class families are comfortable using modern architects, producing neighbourhoods that are adventurous but have a shared aesthetic. It's a spirit that he identifies from his upbringing in Switzerland, but which he finds hard to locate among England's suburban mock-Tudor housing estates.
