WorldBin

Great post! Keep it up!

2012-05-07T16:33:28.976+01:00

Great post! Keep it up!

Great post, I used to live in one of the flats in ...

2012-04-01T15:41:33.123+01:00

Great post, I used to live in one of the flats in Rogers House as a child back in the 1980's. To this day my most favorite place I have ever lived in. I remember when "Robbie's Barbers" was "Nick's Barbers" which my dad used to bring me. I still love the design although they have changed somewhat in the last twenty or so years, particularly the courtyard areas and gated security.

2012-04-01T15:35:11.909+01:00

This comment has been removed by the author.

You just made me fall in love with a place I hated...

2012-03-18T23:16:45.110Z

You just made me fall in love with a place I hated for 3 years. Last time I was there a week ago I started to see the beauty and excitement in in and after reading this post I actually feel like spending more time there. :D

What an incredible story of aesthetic failure. I ...

2011-11-09T09:31:06.818Z

What an incredible story of aesthetic failure.

I would love to follow it up...

Would you be able to find out where the other stations are now located?

Would make for a nice treasure/monster-hunt for the next time I'm in the country.

Actually, this is only one bus stop out of a serie...

2011-11-09T09:12:22.476Z

Actually, this is only one bus stop out of a series of stop, all of which stood together in Bat-Yam in one street (5-6 in a row).
it was so ugly and bad, that Bat-Yam decided to give those stations away - scattered across the highways of Israel

This article was really nicely created, and it als...

2011-10-26T03:52:45.589+01:00

This article was really nicely created, and it also consists of numerous helpful details. I valued your expert manner of writing this article. You’ve made it is easy for me to understand.

Are there any more such geometric buildings with s...

2011-10-16T18:53:35.419+01:00

Are there any more such geometric buildings with slanted openings? What material is this housing made of?

The only people I see there regularly are the tran...

2011-08-29T12:11:22.806+01:00

The only people I see there regularly are the transport police; it seems to have become a convenient base for random stop-and-search...

This is ridiculously cool. I love Giger. Also the ...

2011-07-07T17:23:03.195+01:00

This is ridiculously cool. I love Giger.
Also the baby thing reminds me of Total Recall -
'Open your mind! Open your miiiiind!'

Thomas Snoutass Esquire The Flatulent

nope, it's subscriber-only. hmmm, only took ...

2011-07-05T18:30:09.320+01:00

nope, it's subscriber-only. hmmm, only took me 3 months to reply to this, i'm improving :-)

agree about making way for something different, although in the City's case, it's usually making way for something crap. (milton court being a case in point.)

re the article, can you not download it from the l...

2011-03-30T14:37:32.147+01:00

re the article, can you not download it from the link?

at least we are talking! :0) I must say I quite li...

2011-03-30T14:36:58.278+01:00

at least we are talking! :0)
I must say I quite liked walking around the empty building, it was super eerie. I was also surprised that I wasnt stopped: if it had been 2010 we would probably have been confronted with a Special Branch team pointing guns in our faces after about 5mins.
I always noticed it (particularly the way it stood next to Angel Court in the view from the Skywalk as u walk from the Barbican through to the escalators down to Moorgate), but then you know me, building OBSESSED that I am.
In a way I think its nice that people take notice of things so keenly when they are condemned... even if they are demolished, at least their attributes, good or bad, will be remembered. In their demolition they kind of rise out of obscurity once and for all, and its at that moment of apotheosis that they make way for something different...

i thought i was the only one wondering around that...

2011-03-30T14:26:33.902+01:00

i thought i was the only one wondering around that derelict site taking photos a few years back!! i remember being worried the police were going to question me (happens all the time in the city:-). i definitely agree it's wonderful how small a footprint it takes (took) up, just seems to float there.

also it's sad how i only noticed it once it was condemned. ditto robin hood gardens near where i work.

do you have a pdf copy of that city skywalks article u cld send me?

d

ps. adam, why are we only communicating by blog now? :-)

for sure they know about them... they probably hav...

2011-03-12T15:33:42.493Z

for sure they know about them... they probably have better architectural history courses in Portugal than they do in UK unis.
Didnt know Leopold Bldngs were so early. Page street definitely has partially formed long horizontal proto streets-in-the-air going on though, which looks like quite a step up from Leopold.

there's quite a lot of deck access from earlie...

2011-03-12T15:14:38.403Z

there's quite a lot of deck access from earlier - the Leopold buildings on Columbia Road are from 1872, for example.

I wonder if Aires Mateus are aware of the Page Street blocks?

Death: and make sure thats not the only necklace s...

2011-02-02T12:57:01.943Z

Death: and make sure thats not the only necklace shell be wearing by the end of the night (snickers nazally through his dried and cracking nasal cartiledge).

Grimwauld: Death, really

Guinnevere: does he want to come along? really, im easy, but hurry up, i havent got all day.

Adam: O. How did I get in here.

Guinnevere, Grimwauld, Death: Levantine Jesus murderer! Burn him!

Death: Go on son! She's tasty! Grimwauld: But ...

2011-02-02T12:43:00.221Z

Death: Go on son! She's tasty!
Grimwauld: But I'm scared!
Death: Get in there you nonce. You only live once.
Grimwauld: But my nose is all red! I look shte!
Death: Seriously, if you don't make a move now, I'm going to have to give you the finger. And you know what will happen then...
Grimwauld: Ahh! Ok. Ok. Just give me a second.
Death: No you've got to go straight in for the kill (snarf), no hesitation, or she'll clock you.
Grimwauld: Ok. Alright. I can do this. I'm going.
Death: Good boy.
(marchs up)
Grimwauld: Hello there fair Damson. May I say, you skin is such a lovely pallid tone.
Guinnivere: Are you like, a soldier or something?
Grimwauld: Yes! I am a knight of the realm!
Guinnivere: What's wrong with your nose?
(Death snickers)
(Grimwauld turns)
Grimwauld: Hey!
(Death - gives him thumbs up)
Grimwauld: Um, um, you have, such a lovely, er, necklace. Yes, necklace!
Guinnivere: Who's that weird man standing there?
Grimwauld: Oh don't worry about him, he's just a friend. Where did you get it?
Guinnivere: Who's asking? You wanna come in or not?
Grimwauld: Ok!
(turns to death and grins)
Death: Get innn! Good luck nonceface. Remember, you only live once!

exeunt

that does sound more plausible... although its jus...

2011-02-02T12:11:40.786Z

that does sound more plausible... although its just so damn extreme for a memento mori... i mean its a whole, fleshless, moving corpse -not a tastefuly unobtrusive reminder, and its practically lunging at the poor guy, like those comedy Deaths in cartoons that the protagonist cant see, and that keep lunging for him/her, but never manage to quite catch them. my fav is still the king kissing the young squire. Not as good as the Autofellacious spout in Santiago, but getting there...

Excellent report. I've travelled the Globe but...

2011-02-02T12:03:12.681Z

Excellent report. I've travelled the Globe but alas have never been to the UK. It is on my list of places to visit next, I'm study up on it now. I plan to spend weeks in the British Museum, and would love to hike around Cornwall, hope to say hollo to Kate Bush and Tori Amos too

I think that death is more of a encouraging mement...

2011-02-02T11:58:40.329Z

I think that death is more of a encouraging memento mori - get on with it son while you are young before you snuff it.
Death is a reminder of the fleeting nature of youth, and in extension young love.
I should know!

Lombok

A fantastic exploration of Tel-Aviv's most hat...

2011-01-27T11:45:15.163Z

A fantastic exploration of Tel-Aviv's most hated, yet most sociologically unique, constructs. IMO one of your best posts...

Tel-Aviv is a really interesting experiment in cit...

2010-06-26T11:11:41.726+01:00

Tel-Aviv is a really interesting experiment in city planning, more interesting even than its celebrated architecture - maybe even unique. It developed both organically and chronologically during the "short century", spreading northwards with each decade and prevailing ideology in clearly-defined and utterly different swathes. Only in the past decade has the consistent tapestry of the city begun being disrupted, a tower-shaped puncture here, a city-block-mall scar there.

Reminds me a little of the Boros bunker in Berlin ...

2010-05-09T10:46:27.252+01:00

Reminds me a little of the Boros bunker in Berlin (now an art gallery). Why the bizarre need to decorate bunkers with classical ornament? I don't know. http://blog.hopeglory.com/2009/08/21/boros-collectionbunker-berlin/

How very maudlin. Nice name check on LA Story ther...

2010-03-07T16:48:41.731Z

How very maudlin. Nice name check on LA Story there. I suppose it depends how much you anthropomorphize the objects around you, if you see a sign in a Pixar kind of way all street furniture starts to look very sad and lonely like a dog leashed up outside a cornershop waiting for it's master to return.

So there's two skews here 1) the planning, design and application of signage and street furn. is appalling in general. And appears to be proliferating at an alarming rate.

2) the very real issue of how people interact with each other and their environment and the ham fisted way the various governmental structures routinely impose odd/pointless/detrimental measures and programs to this milieu

So what is to be done? Clearly, I would suggest, that there be a post and/or body created to sweep everything clear and in the spirit of the 30's-50's reforms set down a new and consistent, in terms of thought and action, core design guidelines and principals for this.

However without a cultural awareness and want for a wabi-sabi like way of being, I fear in the Britain of "what are you moaning about, it's alright, it does the job well enough doesn't it?" that this will never happen.