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Developing London

Interesting the music shops are quite happy with things though, it looks and sounds horrific (I've been, it's gash) but the guitar shops are all being supported by the landlords
 
It so happens that I walked past & saw that thing for the first time this afternoon.... took this from inside

Screenshot 2022-10-30 at 17.20.10.jpg

Setting aside questions about the building for now ... I was displeased by the name "Outernet" which I assume is supposed to be a play on "Internet" except it doesn't work properly because outernet would match with innernet and internet would match with ounternet :mad:
 
I thought the Astoria was supposed to be replaced in the redevelopment. All we appear to have is Soho Place which is a posh theatre?
 
I thought the Astoria was supposed to be replaced in the redevelopment. All we appear to have is Soho Place which is a posh theatre?

'Beneath the Now Building is a new 2,000-capacity venue, Here at Outernet, opening in September.' Apparently. Also a 'grassroots music venue' in the old 12 bar club.

I expect they'll both be terrible though.
 
It so happens that I walked past & saw that thing for the first time this afternoon.... took this from inside

View attachment 349523

Setting aside questions about the building for now ... I was displeased by the name "Outernet" which I assume is supposed to be a play on "Internet" except it doesn't work properly because outernet would match with innernet and internet would match with ounternet :mad:
Good
 
im getting used to high rise London...its taken a long time but Im worn down i guess..in fact i think london overall is 'looking' good (ignoring the price tags)

ive noticed my perception of london has changed a lot in the last two or three years as ive been travelling around england a fair bit, going to lots of small towns and villages, and that the leaving london and coming back to it experience has made me see london differently somehow... above all its made me appreciate all the good things we have here.

when you go to a new town and you feel like you've basically seen it all in a couple of hours of walking around it makes me realise how much there is of London - always more to explore

but with that ive also mellowed on the high rise aspect. the rest of england doesnt really have that very much (manchester is being hit hard now), and when you come over the hills of essex or north downs kent and see the shard and canary wharf way off on the horizon it makes it feel like a one off exception to the UK rule....less claustrophobic somehow than the way it used to make feel

i guess what im saying is 50 really high buildings in the UK feels less dominating than 50 really high buildings in one neighbourhood, which is what it felt like to me before IYSWIM

*of course fuck the bankers and i hope one day these buildings get repurposed for something better
 
im getting used to high rise London...its taken a long time but Im worn down i guess..in fact i think london overall is 'looking' good (ignoring the price tags)

ive noticed my perception of london has changed a lot in the last two or three years as ive been travelling around england a fair bit, going to lots of small towns and villages, and that the leaving london and coming back to it experience has made me see london differently somehow... above all its made me appreciate all the good things we have here.

when you go to a new town and you feel like you've basically seen it all in a couple of hours of walking around it makes me realise how much there is of London - always more to explore

but with that ive also mellowed on the high rise aspect. the rest of england doesnt really have that very much (manchester is being hit hard now), and when you come over the hills of essex or north downs kent and see the shard and canary wharf way off on the horizon it makes it feel like a one off exception to the UK rule....less claustrophobic somehow than the way it used to make feel

i guess what im saying is 50 really high buildings in the UK feels less dominating than 50 really high buildings in one neighbourhood, which is what it felt like to me before IYSWIM

*of course fuck the bankers and i hope one day these buildings get repurposed for something better
take a look at toronto for how i think things will proceed, where you have fucking 80 storey blocks going up all over the place, the ones i saw signs for in 2016 and 2017 will doubtless have been built by now and be accompanied by many new ones. toronto was a much lower city than london when i first knew it, in the 80s, with just a gaggle of tower blocks in the centre of town.
 
take a look at toronto for how i think things will proceed, where you have fucking 80 storey blocks going up all over the place, the ones i saw signs for in 2016 and 2017 will doubtless have been built by now and be accompanied by many new ones. toronto was a much lower city than london when i first knew it, in the 80s, with just a gaggle of tower blocks in the centre of town.
very likely
nothing wrong with high-rise per se if built properly but precedent suggests not
what really needs to happen is decentralising away from London...on a small level this has begun with Working From Home and hopefully a further weakening of the banking sector, but desperate rental market suggests demand v supply is worse than ever.

who knows though, uk economy is going to change a lot in the next decade, and a lot of people have already left London....
Starmer does seem interested in devolved power/regionalism a bit more, so maybe there'll be a small shift from government

??
 
if that sort of development should be anywhere it's there, for one. I think it should just be in moderation and preferably to a high standard of architecture, both of which have been passed a while ago.
I always find the train from London Bridge to Farringdon, through Blackfriars and City Thameslink fascinating, your're raised up in amongst such a hotch potch of buildings, some 100s of years old, some being constructed, and it's a sort of glorious mess.or sometimes just a mess. but that's sort of what a city is, I guess.
 
In amsterdam, everything is proper brick. Must cost loads more but it doesn't half give a cohesiveness to all buildings
Even better Amsterdam on the whole, is not very high. Isn't the Adam tower one of the tallest out there and thats across the water from the station
 
Even better Amsterdam on the whole, is not very high. Isn't the Adam tower one of the tallest out there and thats across the water from the station
There is a Canary Wharf-y area which is more steel+glass but there seems to be more thought even there tbh

But yeah, on the whole A'dam isn't as tall. It's kinda uniform 5 storey city-wide
 
Thing is density is exactly what London needs in certain locations but of course most of the developments are unaffordable for normal people.
 
I think cladding looks way uglier than steel and glass. There's a certain honesty about way the polished crystalline corporate brutalist look doesn't pretend to be more human than it is. Whereas this recent trend of covering everything in shitty cladding is the architectural equivalent of a middle-aged City boy trying to act "down with the kids".
 
I think cladding looks way uglier than steel and glass. There's a certain honesty about way the polished crystalline corporate brutalist look doesn't pretend to be more human than it is. Whereas this recent trend of covering everything in shitty cladding is the architectural equivalent of a middle-aged City boy trying to act "down with the kids".
Aesthetically I agree with you but the rise of cladding likely owes more to the need for modern buildings to be well insulated rather than a desire for capitalism to pretend to be humane.
 
Walked past Lots Road power station earlier. It's guts have probably been ripped out, but it's not looking bad and they have kept the chimneys. Unfortunately it will be well out if my league I'm guessing
IMG_20230813_105702_hdr~2.jpgIMG_20230813_105438_hdr~2.jpg
 
Was still wrapped in scaffolding last time I went past there. Not yet possible to go inside by the looks of it?
 
I guess you will only be allowed in as a prospective buyer; I really don't know if there are plans for public spaces.
 
'Beneath the Now Building is a new 2,000-capacity venue, Here at Outernet, opening in September.' Apparently. Also a 'grassroots music venue' in the old 12 bar club.

I expect they'll both be terrible though.
I haven't heard of anything planned there, yeah I don't imagine it'll be much cop.
 
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