This is another development by the amazing architect Sir Norman Foster who with his partners it seems are single handedly transforming our nation’s great capital and bringing her into the modern age. Great work!
This development, is called ‘More London’ and seems like quite an appropriate name, given the amount of work they’ve undertaken on the capital so far. It’ll be primarily know for the City Hall building which is home to the Mayor of London and the GLA (Greater London Assembly).
The Masterplan establishes an entirely new city quarter on a site that has remained undeveloped for decades with a rich mix of uses including offices, a 4-star hotel, a supermarket, health club, shops, cafes, bars and restaurants and a new home for the Unicorn Children’s Theatre. The theatre group will obviously use the sunken concrete amphitheatre which also adorns this mega complex.
I wasn’t overwhelmed by this new development or ‘Masterplan’, admittedly it’s barely even complete and has only just officially been opened… but although the City Hall building is a great piece of architecture and will undoubtedly become another famous part of London’s ‘Fosterism’… The complex as a whole felt empty and soulless, which I think boils down to two simple things: #1 The modern compulsion to over use cheap products, namely glass and CONCRETE. and #2 The current obsession with SPACE and cleanliness. Yuk! I can’t stand it, we as people need company and yearn to feel cosy… give me windy cobbledy old clumsy streets any day… this is what is so fantastic about Europe, our cities have character and style. This project does the very opposite, its wide open expanse isn’t substantiated by any style or character. I think the space as a whole is counter-productive to London, more money of this magnitude would be better spent injecting new life into the old London. Preserving/upgrading what we have, rather than destroying what we had. Admittedly there is some truly beautiful new architecture coming into London and I have nothing against it what so ever. I love contemporary design and architecture and wish I could see it more of it and more often, just as long as what it replaces is of a far higher standard.
The strange thing is that I started out this post, with the intension of giving this project praise and its architect commendation… but that doesn’t seem to have happened. And I’m not even sure why that is!? Oh well.
Rock on Foster! You…er…well…erm….. you rule?
luke says:
too right about norman foster, his work’s really amazing… I’ve only ever shot 2 buildings by him and that was once each. The Reichstag in berlin (stunning what he did with an old building and brought it into the 21st centruy) and the sage in newcastle (which is the 21st centruy). Architecture seems to be the only field really embracing the designs of the future (except for techonolgy), most designers are looking to the past and everythings very retro because people don’t know what 2000 is going to look like, in the past we had a clear idea but we’re scared to look at it because its so cliched, we’re gone retro instead. Sir norman fosters’ different, he is designing the present future. Shots 2,3,4 are really cool here
February 2nd, 2005 @ 12:37 am
Ed Merritt says:
Nice work mate, number one would look awsome in B&W (but I always think that). Number 4 is a great angle, well spotted.
February 2nd, 2005 @ 2:28 pm
paul says:
fabulous set of shots, No1 …..very moody shot. Great reflection of the sun.
No4 … ditto Ed, leads you to the structure in the background.
February 14th, 2005 @ 3:10 am