Sunday book pick: ‘Spring Garden’ is a sobering novel about what uninspiring buildings do to a city

Like everything else these days, even our homes have started to look indistinguishable. Matchbox-sized flats in high-rise apartments, beige-pink-white interiors “inspired” by Pinterest, sturdy wood and metal have been replaced by plywood and plastic, and handcrafted furniture have given way to mass-produced fixtures which outlast in neither years nor trends. A disinterest in locally-made handicrafts and cheaply-made decorative items are creating homes that not only look like exact replicas of each other but say nothing about the inhabitants or reflect their personalities in any way. This in turn is creating a crisis where the spaces we inhabit do not inspire us, and the growing trend of revamping the house every few years puts us in a flux where we are unable to have long-lasting visions of creativity and indeed, the intimacy that makes a house a home.

As old houses are razed and replaced with plain-looking apartments built by corporations and small-time promoters, we see the very face of our neighbourhoods and cities changing. Architecture is not a mute feature – it adds a distinct character to a city. Most major cities around the world are known for their unique buildings and city planning. To me, a beautiful house is a piece...

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