Apple-Bobbing on Southwark Bridge

I can't really think of a better way to spend autumn than traipsing through the streets of London with a good friend, a light jacket, vague destinations, and a willingness to wander.

Yesterday morning led Chris and I from Hyde Park to a local churchyard filled with organic produce to the market of all antique markets, Portobello Road. From there, we made our way through Paddington via London's "Little Venice"-- a canal speckled with barges and lined by a range of private housing complexes ranging from low-end concrete boxes to single-family mansions.



After one last meander through Brick Lane, our walk concluded at the Southwark Bridge, which had been closed to traffic for the Thames Festival. For the first time in history, the bridge was transformed into a playground for both children and adults. Covered in zones of sand, astroturf, hay bales, and soft seating, the bridge became a lively gathering space to eat, drink, carve pumpkins, converse, and listen to a range of live music. As we sat under a makeshift Bedouin tent, watching people's profiles dance against the backdrop of a setting sun and the sound of bagpipes, I was able to reflect on the feeling of "urban" contentment.

While I will always grapple with the urban vs rural debate embedded in the quest for "quality of life," a city such as London makes me want to choose urbanity without looking back.


To be redundant, London's richness undoubtedly comes from its complex layering of past and present. Everything that is "new" is contrasted by something "old." No matter where you go (with the exception of Canary Wharf--a newer high-rise development with the trappings of a sci-fi Emerald City), new architecture is assigned value based on its ability to critique its predecessors. Few exceptions occur. One merely has to look at the Lloyd's of London building (a futuristic steel exoskeleton of component parts) to understand that the most moving part of the building is its placement behind the ornate stone facade of the original bank.

While Koolhaas might disagree with my intuitive analysis (i.e. his comment "f&*# context"), it is London's contextualism that continues to drive my desire to understand architecture's place in the here and now.
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Favorite events of the last week:
1) John Power @ the Spitz (download the album: "Willow She Weeps")
2) Jeremy's Jubilee Tube Tour--a field trip to successive stations designed by famous architects in London
3) Sketching extravaganza in the Tate Modern
4) Exploring the Architectural Association's "Triangle Bookshop"
5) After-class impromptu roommate picnic in Regents Park
6) Visit to the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park
7) Standing on the Prime Meridian in Greenwich

On the Boards:
Overnight architecture weekend in NewCastle
Research trip to the AA
Feist Concert
..and more!