Frank Gehry: Most architecture today has 'no sense of design, no respect for humanity'

Fiction's most famous architect, Howard Roarke, destroyed his own building. But you don't have to be a fan of the Fountainhead to want to demolish a lot of modern architecture. Which brings us to Frank Gehry, his outrage, the middle finger and the uneasy questions of Ego and Edifice. We're on Starchitects today.

Let me tell you one thing. In this world we are living in, 98 percent of everything that is built and designed today is pure shit. There's no sense of design, no respect for humanity or for anything else. They are damn buildings and that's it..- Frank Gehry, Canadian architect

Canadian architect Frank Gehry was answering a question asked by a journalist in Spain two weeks ago and it came accompanied by a raised middle finger. Gehry later apologized. But you don't need to be a Starchitect to feel uninspired by many modern buildings.

As part of our season-long project, By Design, today we're asking whether Frank Gehry is right and it's really only the biggest projects that respect the design process.

• Don Schmitt is a principal architect at Diamond Schmitt Architects.

• Lloyd Alter is the Managing Editor of Treehugger.com, and an Adjunct Professor of Sustainable Design at Ryerson University's School of Interior Design.

• Elsa Lam is the Editor of Canadian Architect magazine.

Do you think architecture today is uninspired and lacks "respect for humanity" as Frank Gehry said? Or do you see great works of design in your city?

Send us photos of your favourite hits and misses. Tweet us @TheCurrentCBC using #ByDesignCBC. Comment below or e-mail us through our website. Find us on Facebook.

This segment was produced by The Current's Shannon Higgins and Sarah Grant.

Check out our slideshow of famous buildings and vote on which you buildings you think are designs that delight or are disasters.