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Washington (dpa) - Britain's Prince Charles was awarded a U.S. architecture prize Thursday that recognizes his advocacy of urban design that stays in touch with nature and tradition.
On the third day of a U.S. trip with his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Charles got a chance to speak on a favourite theme when he was honoured at Washington's National Building Museum.
He talked about his love for gardening and said there is "a profound need to move toward architecture and planning which similarly reconnects reconnects the human and natural world with one another."
"In the same way that our food and the way it is produced can tell a special story, so our buildings should tell the tell the irresistible story of human character and idiosyncrasies," Charles told the audience.
The museum awarded him its Vincent Scully Prize, established in 1999 and named after a distinguished U.S. art history professor. The museum cited the prince's belief "that more should be done to create urban areas with human scale that encourage a sense of community".
Charles has been outspoken on the issue for years, including in his 1989 book "A Vision of Britain", arguing that post-World War II urban building projects often spawned crime and social isolation. The prince also launched a foundation that promotes traditional urban design and architecture.
Copyright 2005 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
