Tuesday 18 March 2008

New London Architecture

I didn't even know this place existed until my better half read about it. We went to check out the current exhibition 'UNDERGROUND: London's Hidden Infrastructure' but saw a whole lot more.

The space is billed as:

New London Architecture is a vital addition to the public debate about the future of London. The capital is undergoing a period of massive change and NLA is a place where everyone - professionals, politicians and public - can find out and get involved in what is happening to their city.

The NLA space is a centre for display as well as a centre for debate and for networking. It is where visitors to London can orientate themselves, where school children can learn about their environment, where communities can be consulted.

A permanent exhibition of a 1:1500 scale model of Central London, surrounded by a display showing a cross section of current building projects, is enhanced by a programme of temporary exhibitions addressing London issues.


On entering The Building Centre, visitors are greeted with a huge 3D scale map of London showing all proposed new developments from the olympic village through to the Shard etc. Sadly my flat was just off the map but it was properly fascinating - I could look at architectural models all day to be fair.





















The real highlight was the 'UNDERGROUND' section of the exhibition. Broken down into sections (services, flood defence, transport, residential etc) the exhibition displayed ways in which the spaces underneath London streets have been utilised in the past, and how we can use similar in the future (in a sustainable way. Examples varied from the now defunct Post Office underground railway, stables underneath Camden up to modern developments such as the Jubilee Line extension.

















One of the few exhibitions I've seen recently where I've read absolutely everything on the walls!

New London Architecture website

Tuesday 11 March 2008

SIOUXSIE














I was lucky enough to be at the Siouxsie gig last night. Not a fan of the Shepherds Bush Empire but managed to find a space by the bar between some old punks, a MASSIVE tranny and goth dancing with his arms like Fingermouse.

Siouxsie was incredible though, looked amazing and sounded like a recording (in a good way). Although she did a few classics (Hong Kong Garden, Arabian Nights...) it was more a showcase for the new album which after last night is certified ESSENTIAL. Aged blokes shouting out tracklists were met with stern rebuke as newer material was aired. It felt overwhelming modern and for want of a better word 'dancy' - made me wonder why there wasn't/isn't more Siouxsie-Balearic disco crossover.

This sounded great too: