City Hall, by Foster + Partners, is quite a unique building and it's taken a while but it's starting to grow on me. One day I hope to get up the spiral ramp inside but I keep missing the limited opportunities.
'City Hall is the headquarters of the Greater London Authority which comprises the Mayor of London and London Assembly. It is located in Southwark, stands on the south bank of the River Thames near Tower Bridge. Designed by Norman Foster, it opened in July 2002.
The building has an unusual bulbous shape, intended to reduce its surface area and thus improve energy efficiency. It has been compared variously to Darth Vader's helmet, a misshapen egg, a human scrotum, a woodlouse or a motorcycle helmet. Former mayor Ken Livingstone referred to it as a "glass testicle". The new mayor, Boris Johnson, has referred to it more politely as 'The Onion'. Its designers reportedly saw the building as a giant sphere hanging over the Thames, but opted for a more conventionally rooted building instead. It has no front or back on conventional terms but derives its shape from a modified sphere.' (Source : Wikipedia)
Tags: London Architecture Buildings landmark icon iconic Darrell Godliman www.dgphotos.co.uk dgphotos All Rights Reserved Copyright travel tourism Europe British Isles United Kingdom UK Great Britain GB Britain England Contemporary Architecture Modern Architecture City Hall Norman Foster Foster & Partners Greater London Authority Mayor of London London Assembly Southwark South Bank Thames Famous_Buildings FlickrElite Foster and Partners Nikon D200 EU building arquitectura l'architecture Architektur アーキテクチャ Архитектура © D.Godliman AA Ubercool architectuur architettura mimari สถาปัตยกรรม 架构 Nikon D200 Architectural Photography Architectural Photographer Travel Photography Travel Photographer Travelling
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Not the most attractive view of Norman Fosters City Hall. I think it's fair to say it's the dramatic sky that makes this one.
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It's easy to forget how revolutionary the Richard Rogers / Renzo Piano Centre George Pompidou was at the time of it's completion in 1977 but it was one of the first Hi-tech buildings. It's starting to look like it needs another coat of paint now.
From Wikipedia : "The Centre was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, the British architect couple Richard Rogers and Su Rogers, Gianfranco Franchini, the British structural engineer Edmund Happold (who would later found Buro Happold), and Irish structural engineer Peter Rice. The project was awarded to this team in an architectural design competition, whose results were announced in 1971. Reporting on Rogers' winning the Pritzker Prize in 2007, The New York Times noted that the design of the Centre "turned the architecture world upside down" and that "Mr. Rogers earned a reputation as a high-tech iconoclast with the completion of the 1977 Pompidou Centre, with its exposed skeleton of brightly colored tubes for mechanical systems. The Pritzker jury said the Pompidou “revolutionized museums, transforming what had once been elite monuments into popular places of social and cultural exchange, woven into the heart of the city.”
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Not quite the first into the British Museum on the morning of my visit but there weren't many people ahead of me.
To see more work by Norman Foster (and his mate Richard Rogers) click here : www.flickr.com/photos/darrellg/sets/72157604136925631
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Another random London shot before I get back to my Manchester uploads. This glass bridge links the main part of the British Museum to the former British Library Rotunda in the middle of the Norman Foster designed Great Court.
Tags: UK - London - British Museum Courtyard Bridge 03_DSC4341
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