I am impressed by London's revival of sorts. The post thatchwhorian (lol) blahs have passed Britain and she maintains some of the best growth rates in the G-8. Britain’s de-industrialization and new head of the international finance ring (along with NYC) has re-vitalized the new UK. After years of East German-esqe economic performance, and architecture London has revamped into a new style for the post-modern era. Here are some of the buildings in the London that impress me the most:

Tower Bridge London (2007) (http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/622/28london_bridgetower01.jpg)

One Canada Square (http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/622/4901cs_bmp.gif)

Entrance into OCS (http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/622/9dsc30322.jpg)

30 St Mary Axe (http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/622/490img07_large.jpg)

The gorgeous entrance into Lloyds Place (http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/622/9lloyds_entrance.jpg)

Exterior of Lloyd's Place (http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/622/3475peimjesk.jpg)

These are just some of the fantastic show pieces that modern London has to offer. The only other cities that I have seen take such design cues are Hong Kong, and oddly enough even Kiev! Is it just me or are they beauties?

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/622/9lloyds_building.jpg

Lloyd's Place

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/622/1098lloyds1986_1.jpg

:D

Are you being ironic or serious?

Well you tell me? I assume you live in London then. What I am talking about is the architectural revival of the city not the spirit of the city or whatever...

After years of East German-esqe economic performance, and architecture London

oooouch!!!!:(

London is an amazing and a great city :cool:
was, is, will stay :m:

Well I wouldn't take that much of a insult. I frankly have a affinity for everything DDR. I used that E.German thing because most people would consider that a negative connotation. The E.Germans had a healthy economy in comparison too the rest of the fmr. Socialist bloc. But I must say that the UK in the 60's and 70's (in particular) reminded me of the DDR so much. For instance here are some of my fav. DDR buildings:

Berliner Fernsehturm (http://www.emporis.info/en/il/im/?id=159993)

MY MOST FAVOURITE BUILDING Palast Der Republik, the gold one (http://www.norbert-schnitzler.de/Sammlungen/DDR/Reise/Berlin45-85/minibilder/2.html)

Park Inn Berlin Alexanderplatz (http://www.emporis.info/en/il/im/?id=159983)


Mind my pseudo-nostalgia
:o

Originally posted by Avatar
London is an amazing and a great city :cool:
was, is, will stay :m:

Hmmm well, it is getting too pretentious, and too expensive.

I'm not a londoner, but I have visited it. The water is foul, the air is nearly as bad. Wraith is correct, it is too pretentions, but alway s has been, or at least certain parts of it have always been. And its been stupidly expensive for over 5 years now, in fact we learnt about how stupidly expensive it was in geography lessons at school over 10 years ago.

Oh fuck, Nicos fallen for the show off style of architecture, that has a very very chequered history. Damn, wheres tha article slaggin it off gone..... cant remember. Anyhow, Loyds of london has been around for decades, the docklands tower labelled as one canada square is a godawful half occupied slab sided phallus dedicated to soulless international banking and media, that was built over 10 years ago. The tube station underneath it is impressively large, but totally underused.
So wheres your revival nooo? You missed the new london offices of Ken Livingstone at Tower bridge, now that is an interesting building. True its glass and metal, but its made to be used, yet in a modern environmentally friendly fashion, i think.
oh no, not the gherkin. Bloody foster has a lot to answer for.

"Britain’s de-industrialization and new head of the international finance ring (along with NYC) has re-vitalized the new UK."

Piss off. Nodnols been revitalised, thats cos it is the worlds whore. Remember, banker is synonymous with W*****. Thats the reason there smoney going into london. The deindustrialisation of the UK is causing a large variety of problems, that i neednt go into here. Its not the new UK, the same old people own it all, and london is the capital. Forget Cool brittania or anything you might have read, this is the Uk, a much overated country. Which is not to say that id live else where, except also that anywhere near london isnt a good idea.

Well said. To hell with economic performance as well, it just allows us to cram more and more people into an increasingly ugly environment. 'Green and pleasant land' I don't think. London's a monstrous carbuncle that we should turn into fields as soon as possible.

But which buildings woud you keep? Some of my friends would like to dynamite the houses of parliament. I certainly think a lot of the higher ones should go, like out at Docklands, and a lot of the slab sided concrete offices should go the same way as the 60's and 70's high rises. If your going to do high rise, do it properly, ie an arcology or something, where the height doesnt matter.
Of course, I'd also keep most of the older buildings, but I'm sure one or two of them could go, although WW2 cleared a lot of them out the way.

The buildings that currently exsist are OK, just more thought on new projects.

-Centre of london has got to pull itself from its own back passage.

-House prices have to come down

-The Tube service needs major heart surgery, and needs to be open all through the night. What the hell is this "last trube at midnight crap"?? we live in one of the biggest cities in the world and our tubes dont work.

there are many other probs...yet still london has that allure.....it's very addictive.

My god! I never realized the amount of animosity that these projects have on inhabitants of the UK. I wonder I heard that if you are in the UK and don't live in London, it's a big deal. Nevertheless London has changed...does anyone deny this? The modernist feel of the city has changed its look from a drab stagnate European city into a metropolis with new and relatively exciting projects. I don't see why London attracts so much hatred, or such things. Now how exactly is London being pretentious? In which sense? London is the pop centre of Europe and the English speaking world. It was in London where the best music, and other such things came or were made from (albeit I detest most pop culture). The Lloyd's building has been around since 1986 I am aware of this fact. I know that it could attract some animosity because it would represent Thatcher’s New England (Lloyd's was built btwn 1979-1986) and I assume that there must be a connection. I have heard stories of the Tube, makes me happy to have the TTC! Our subways come every 5 minutes.

HHmm, where to start.......

"I wonder I heard that if you are in the UK and don't live in London, it's a big deal."

to some extent yes, since London gets lots of money put into it, lots of attention adn everything else. Gvt and corporate centralisaiton has nearly killed off most other cities in the UK in comparison to london. London has a lot of hidden subsidies, soem of which it actually needs, becasue its so disfuncitonal. The tube system is waayyy out of date, public transport is looking better because of the congestion charge money. A lot of its problem s come from being the centre of the country, whereas if there was more decentralisaiton that would take a lot of the pressure off it.

"Nevertheless London has changed...does anyone deny this?"

Changed how? your average office has changed a bit in the last 20 year withthe rise of computers, but its still an office with typing and ifling and mettings held etc. All thats happened in london is that its further exacerbated the monetary gap between it and the rest of the country, by way of its financial services industry. What you see just now is the left overs from the pre 2001 boom. It was the same in 1987, until the bubble went "POP" and negative equity etc set in. london has hardly changed at all, not as much as you might think. Getting its mayor back is only a small step, the real changes will take longer, and I'm afraid building huge skyscrapers is so old and been done before that is boring.

"The modernist feel of the city has changed its look from a drab stagnate European city into a metropolis with new and relatively exciting projects. "

Pardon? Once cannot deny some such projects have occured, but a lot of them arent actually exciting unless you have a fetish for big dull buildings. And otehrs, like the british museum roof over the courtyard and Loyds, are old hat. I've been to the british museum, i heartily reccomend a visit. Remember, the projects on the surface arent what count, its whats going on below that that does, and I'm afraid this is just froth.

" I don't see why London attracts so much hatred, or such things."

Same reason the USA does, its big, brash, powerful, predative etc.

"Now how exactly is London being pretentious? In which sense? London is the pop centre of Europe and the English speaking world."

See above. Big buildings with nothing much going on beneath them are a good example.

"It was in London where the best music, and other such things came or were made from (albeit I detest most pop culture). "

hhmm, thats nearly correct. I assume youve heard of the manchester music scene, or indeed of Liverpool? Of course, the reason for london being dominant is that everyone from across the country has to go there becasue thats where all the men in suits are. Simple really. I dont know enough about contemporary british music to go into details, but I assure you, london appears bright only becasue its the centre where you have to go in order to get onto the popular culture music scene, unless your big enough to do it by yourself.

" The Lloyd's building has been around since 1986 I am aware of this fact."

if youd just made it a bit clearer. Lloyds isnt so bad, its not so tall and its interesting to look at because it has all its stuff on the outside.

"I have heard stories of the Tube, makes me happy to have the TTC! Our subways come every 5 minutes."

The tube is big and confusing, but essential to london operating as a city. no other method could get all these people into the centre for their work. but it need investment, and that has been lacking in part becasue of thatcher and bleugh wanting to privatise it etc.
(bleugh = blair)

see
the scots have more brains in their pinky than the english have in their heads.

scotland rules

I think you're taking the thread a bit too seriously. The thread basis was architecture, not the spirit of the city:

What I am talking about is the architectural revival of the city not the spirit of the city or whatever...

So Guthrie, thanks for the rants of London's "pretentiousness" but it's kindof out of place... But I am certain you have some valid architectural points. This is to my knowledge a Art&Culture forum.

Ahhh, but you invited it to go afield. Besides, if the spirit of a city isnt connected to its architecture and vice versa, then youll end up with load of old carbuncle,s which London is in danger of getting. If I look up old private eyes I have lying around I might get together some stuff about whats being done in london.
Pretentiousness is part of culture as well, hadnt you noticed?

if the spirit of a city isnt connected to its architecture and vice versa, then youll end up with load of old carbuncle,s which London is in danger of getting.

I suppose I am supposed to care? All I care about in this thread is the architecture, if you have problems with the spirit... fine be my guest. But avoid polluting a architecture thread.

Ooohh, look whos geting picky about where a thread is going!\

Anyways, british museum room:
http://www.architectureweek.com/2001/0214/design_1-1.html
I didnt realise it was by foster and partnners, I rather like it. Theyve been responsibly for some of the uglybuildings currently adorning london. Another one they are repsonsible for is:
http://www.mykreeve.net/london/city_hall/

Its also by foster, but not so bad, in part becaus eits smaller than some of his other efforts and daydreams. I do worry a little about the strangle hold he seems to have on the citys architecture.
http://www.mykreeve.net/london/city_hall/city_hall_looking_up_ramp.jpg
On the other hand, this ramp feature he's reused from the Reichstag.