Mile End Park

Mile End Park was designed by Tibbalds TM2. The Green Bridge was designed by Piers Gough of CZWG Architects. This park is an ideal example of demonstrating the importance of maintenance. The design of this park is great and has tons of potential but due to poor maintenance by the council the park looks dissapointing. The description of the park sounds really nice

"Mile End Park was gorgeously landscaped during the millennium year by Tibbalds TM2, and now incorporates a go-kart track, a children's centre for under-10s, areas for public art and an ecology area."

Text from here.

The reality of the park is far from attractive and welcoming for anyone let alone under 10s and families. Its hard to judge whether the public art includes the graffitti and un-kept look the park has. I tried to open minded about the park but that was hard after having read and heard negatives reviews about the park, and then being there every word that i'd heard or read was accurate.

Below shows some photos to give an insight to the park.

Mudchute Farm

This was a bit of fun in the day!! There's something about seeing a pig just makes you laugh. The llama's were amusing as well, they didn't look very happy and when I was told they spit quite far I stepped back!
This is a nice example of a community run project, it would be interesting to find out more about the farm. Where they get their funds from? Do the chicken eggs get sold or are they given to the community? Who pays for the food and upkeep of the fences/gates etc?
Ignoring all these questions this is a great opportunity for inner-city children to get an insight to farm animals and what they need to survive.

Jubilee Gardens, Canary Wharf

Jubliee Gardens, i'm not to sure about these gardens, they have the potential to be nice but just aren't. The detailing isn't very nice but the knowing that there's a shopping centre underneath gives you a little more appreciation for it. The fountains work well at drowning out the nearby traffic, other then that I wasn't a big fan of these gardens.

Greenwich Peninsula

Having never visited the dome or the surrounding area, it was decided that was something to do! Below is a public open space near a school, the paving was really nice but the layout was a bit strange. The paving didn't cover the whole area. The games here entertained us for about five minutes and then it was decided that they were too difficult so we moved on. This is a short video of the turning disks, you might have to tilt your head a bit i can't rotate it, sorry!

Portsmouth @ night

Portsmouth @ night

Portsmouth

Gunwharf Quays, shopping and new residential flats

Portsmouth

Views from The Spinnaker Tower
It takes 30 seconds to get from the viewing platform to the ground, it wouldn't take that long if you were to fall!!

Portsmouth

The Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth

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!