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A quarter of a century after his famous 鈥榗arbuncle鈥� remark, Prince Charles will address the RIBA on Tuesday to mark its 175th anniversary. It is unlikely that architecture will receive such coverage for quite some time, giving the prince an unprecedented opportunity to move the debate on building design in the UK forward. But what would the sector like him to say?

Peter Rogers, technical director, Stanhope (and brother of Richard Rogers)

I would like Prince Charles to recognise in his speech how people live today, and how they can afford to live. The Rogers family and Prince Charles don鈥檛 quite fit 鈥� he has a real blind spot towards modern society and lives in a sheltered world. We have to move forward with the way society is changing.

If Prince Charles had his way we would never build anything new. I think it will be a very backward-looking speech. Unfortunately there are no great leaders any more who lead by example; you are left with a few footballers, some pop stars and the royal family. It鈥檚 a pretty sad state of affairs.

Francis Terry, director, Quinlan Terry Architects

I doubt Chelsea Barracks will come up. The debate has moved on 鈥� this generation is a lot less indoctrinated about style and how buildings should be than the previous generation. There has been a lot of hostility towards him over this in the architectural press, but I think if architects look beyond that they will see a lot of common ground.

A lot of the prince鈥檚 ideas on the environment, which were once seen as the lunatic fringe, have become part of the orthodoxy. We think he鈥檚 marvellous. If you鈥檙e presented with a fait accompli like the Chelsea Barracks design, then he is one of the few people who will say 鈥渉ang about, this isn鈥檛 right鈥�.

Keith Bradley, senior partner, Feilden Clegg Bradley

I鈥檓 not speaking for the practice here, but my personal view is: I don鈥檛 care. I don鈥檛 have any time for the royal family, or their position on architecture or anything else.

If we want a celebrity to talk about architecture, let鈥檚 get Brad Pitt.

I am disappointed that the RIBA asked him to speak. If he did try to go hard on style, I鈥檇 like to think he鈥檇 be booed out of the room. But he won鈥檛 鈥� I鈥檓 sure it will be a genteel speech, and he鈥檒l talk about sustainability issues without going into architecture with a capital A. But I don鈥檛 think we should be giving him an audience.

Robert Adam, director, Robert Adam Architects

I hope he will use the speech as an opportunity to make it up with the architectural profession and show that our common interests and concerns are much greater than our differences. There is a futility about concentrating on minor issues when there are so many major ones we all agree on. What is urgent and important is the sustainability agenda. Let鈥檚 not let the debate on style get in the way of this much more important issue.

Sir John Sorrell, chairman, Cabe

I鈥檇 hope he will focus on sustainability 鈥� it鈥檚 obviously close to his heart. But I hope the media will focus on two other events within hours of this speech that will have a much more profound impact on the built environment: the government is launching its first strategy for improving quality of place since the Urban Taskforce, followed quickly by the launch of a first-ever minimum design standard for schools that will affect the future of every pupil in the country. To be frank, that鈥檚 where attention should be focused.

Glenn Howells, director, Glenn Howells Architects and architect of the Stirling prize-nominated Savill 黑洞社区 in Windsor Great Park

I hope he talks about the role of craft in architecture. The Prince鈥檚 Trust has shown itself to be interested in the use of arts and crafts, carpentry, masonry and local materials. On the Savill 黑洞社区 鈥� on which we effectively worked for the royal family 鈥� I like to think that we showed just because you鈥檙e working in crafts doesn鈥檛 mean you can鈥檛 be stylistically modern.

I think a lot of the recent criticism of Charles has been that he makes his comments behind closed doors; well, here he is giving a talk in front of 400 architects. He鈥檚 not doing this speech because he鈥檚 paid for it, he鈥檚 doing it because he has a genuine interest in the profession. It鈥檚 easy to forget that.

Maxwell Hutchinson, former RIBA president and author of The Prince of Wales: Right or Wrong? An Architect Replies

I鈥檓 exactly two weeks younger than Prince Charles, so we鈥檝e lived our lives in parallel. That鈥檚 why I wrote a response to his book A Vision of Britain. But I鈥檓 certainly less of a hot-headed polemicist than I was then, and I would hope he is, too. I don鈥檛 particularly want him to trudge too far back into the question of style. Britain was in the grip of this ghastly post-modernism trend when he made his original speech in 1984, and that鈥檚 why it had the impact it did. The pragmatic 鈥渢hird way鈥� modernism you see now is far more intelligent than when he spoke before. I hope he鈥檒l credit the undoubted success that British architecture has had since then.