It's the Gherkin again …
Neetzy wants to know whether the building is curved or if it's an illusion.
I think I can safely say it's gherkin-shaped.
It's rather lovely in its own way, though it does make for an incongruous neighbour to the little house beside St.Helen's church.
Spiffy, huh?
13 comments:
That's kind of phallic Dive.
We architects do love to overcompensate.
Ky, glad you said it for me! Ha!
Artistically, I like the juxtaposition of the old and new, the grand and simple, the tall and short. In reality, if that mirrored wonder of contemporary life showed up behind my cute, historic building, I might be pissed.
Quite spiffy, sugar! xoxoxoxo
Old and new is what London's all about, Katherine. It has been continually eating itself for over two thousand years. Other than the Tower of London, there are very few buildings in the City end older than the late seventeenth century (the Great Fire saw to that), but in Westminster you can still find buildings dating back a thousand years or so.
Having said that, lately a lot of Roman buildings have been dug out of the City and put on display, which is good to see.
Spiffy is a good word, Savannah. xoxoxoxo
Oh London, what a shiny new peen you have!
That's nothing, Vanda. Just wait until you see The Shard! It makes the Gherkin look positively mammary.
Yes, I have photos and they will be posted in the coming days.
I'm trembling in my boots.
When I look at our buildings, I think that architects use as much surface design as they can because it would cost so much to add curves.
Is the difference between a palace and a castle just who inhabits it or the degree of fortification?
I'm pretty sure it's the latter, Speedway. A castle doesn't have to be pretty, but it is a fortification. A palace is pretty. It can be fortified but it doesn't have to be. Am I right, Dive? I'll let the architect give the definitive answer.
I'm partial to the old buildings. I know it's not practical to limit a city to old buildings, but we should keep as many as we can. I admire the way Europe and the UK re-purpose old structures.
Vanda, just for you, I'll introduce the Shard in the next post.
Speedway, curves are a nightmare. I love designing them and they look boffo when they're built, but getting dumb builders to build them correctly is the particular personal hell that awaits me for all eternity.
Petrea's right: a castle is a fortification and will often have a hall or palace within it; a palace is merely a big house were someone self-important happens to live.
We're not so great at keeping our old buildings in Europe, Petrea; every few decades we tend to bomb our cities flat. The Gherkin itself is built to replace a building the IRA bombed to dust. And when we're not blowing ourselves up we're committing planning carnage. Our remaining stock of old buildings is still standing more by accident than design.
I'm late to the game, but these photos are excellent. I like the varied views you have given us of this iconoclastic building.
It does look surreal "growing" out of the house beside St. Helen's church; like the house is a cone head, or found a new hat.
Hee hee, Ms.M. A Gherkin hat would indeed be surreal. I do have a soft spot for the Gherkin, though cleaning the windows is a real nightmare.
Post a Comment