Trees and the city - 1

Walking past 100 Liverpool Street, the multipurpose new edifice near Liverpool Street railway station, London, I looked up and noticed a young tree peeping over the top of the building. I imagine there is a space on the roof open to some of the occupants where people take a break, eat lunch, or have a coffee. The contrast between the natural form of the tree and the man-made form of the building was stark. Perhaps in the fullness of time it, and its companions will take root and soften what is currently an expanse of concrete, glass and steel. As I looked at the tree I couldn't help but compare it with the tree in the next post.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

The Shard from below

Over the years, during my visits to London, I've documented the construction of the skyscraper known as The Shard. From the appearance above its neighbours of its services core, to its growth to a prominent skyline "under construction" feature, to its completion as a constantly changing, well-named tower, I've regularly added to my stock of photographs of the building. I've photographed it at night, from the streets, in low cloud, from below etc. But one view I hadn't got until my recent visit is a shot from below taken at night. The need to use London Bridge Railway station to travel to Blackheath put me in the right position for the photograph above.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony RX100

Shell Centre, London

The 27 storey Shell Centre was built in 1957-62 and was the first London building to exceed the height of the Victoria Tower of the Palace of Westminster. On completion it was the UK's tallest building, surpassing the Royal Liver building in Liverpool. It is faced with Portland stone, has bronze framed windows, and is the work of the architect Sir Howard Robertson. At the time of its construction it was derided by modernist architects who saw it as echoing the pre-war style of other London buildings. However, though it may be dull and backward looking its exterior has lasted better than most of the buildings erected during those years.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Siver birches and buildings

A tree that seems to me to have grown in popularity over the past fifty years is the silver birch. Where the Victorians and Edwardians had no qualms about planting London Plane, lime, horse chestnut and many other large trees in our cities and towns, in more recent times smaller trees have been favoured. Whitebeam and rowan now proliferate, but the architects' favourite is surely the silver birch. It is slender, blocks light less than many other trees and has attractive bark. What is often forgotten is that it sheds seeds and twigs copiously around its planting site. However, the delicate tracery of its branches against the rectilinear grid of glass curtain walls, as in this London example, is hard to beat, and architects are still choosing the tree in great numbers to complement their buildings.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Architectural novelty

Novelty shouldn't be one of the main aims in architecture and yet today, perhaps more than at any other time in the history of this practical art, architects seem to be caught in a competition to produce the most unusual and eye-catching design within the budget of their brief. The building in today's photograph was one we passed on a walk through the Battersea district of London. A new Frank Gehry building is in the offing there, and the new United States Embassy that is currently under construction is displaying a most unusual exterior wall. Perhaps the irregular, rectangular tiles in shades of blue with white were the architects' response to the arms race in novelty currently under way in that location.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10