Banal buildings are bad for us. They are the design world’s equivalent of ultra-processed food. Such edifices fail to not only to the people who live or work in them but also to an often-ignored constituency: the people who have to walk past their dull façades every day.

‘Buildings affect our health’: Thomas Heatherwick on how dull architecture is just as harmful as fast food
WRITER Andrew Tuck
Monocle September 2026