Jeppe Hein- The Curve

A free exhibition at the Barbican, well worth a look! Like the Aalto exhitbion i wasn't allowed to take photos but follow the link and have a look at the images. The attention to detail in this roller coaster was either really complicated and took a long time to work out or very simple with a lot of luck! Jeppe Hein- The Curve, (9th feb- 27 apr)

Alvar Aalto: Through the Eyes of Shigeru Ban

An exhibition at the Barbican (22nd feb-13 May 07), looking at Alvar Aalto through the eyes of Shigeru Ban. Unfortunately i wasn't allowed to take any photos while looking at this exhibit. I wasn't overly keen on the work that Aalto did as an architect, but some of his furniture was attractive in the way each piece was made up of simple designs.

Shigeru Ban is definately worth looking at in terms of sustainability. He's built houses made from cardboard, paper and beer kegs for foundations. the models were great and the whole concept of the houses was great.

While walking round one quote that caught my eye was;

"Nothing old can be reborn, but it will never completely vanish either; it will always re-emerge in a new form."

Alvar Aalto

Cross Section of Road

One of the best features in some parts of London are the cobbled streets, and its a shame that in some places they have been covered over with tarmac. In the photos below you can see the cobbles under the tarmac where the road has been dug up.

Cardinal Place- Westminster

By the time i arrived at this space, the sun had gone down (so it was a bit dark). The space was nice and would be great in the summer for sitting out and socializing with. Walking round the space at night was nice because the character of a space is different after dark. The white lights on the grass were a bit bright and made it hard to see the whole site. Lighting the trees green was a nice effect and i wonder what they would look like if they were lit with a different colour.

The Barbican

This space is mostly private and for the use of the residents that live in the flats. The flats are grade 1 listed, its not the nicest looking facade up close but its oddly attractive when you look at the whole picture.

Outside St Paul's Cathedral

This open space is near St Paul's Cathedral. The problem with this space is the grass area has no access. The interesting part of this space is the noise, at one part all you can hear is the water from the fountain, at the other end of the space all you can hear is the road noise.

Old Bailey- Street Scene Enhancement Scheme

This looks very nice until you look at the finer details of the main feature. the water was flowing out of a crack shown in the photo below and the grate that is supposed to stop litter and leaves blocking the drains, wasn't finished to a very high standard because its broken!

worth a look

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