Thursday, November 29, 2007

A bad architectural idea

When you come out of Monument station on the Tube and walk down the slight incline you come into a small open square surrounded by office buildings, some modern, some more classic. Dominating the square is Christopher Wren's Monument to the Great Fire of London from which the station and surrounding area derive its name.
Lo and behold, guv'ner. All that is set to disappear into the belly of one of the worst architectural ideas to come along since the anti-lupine use of straw.
The Monument will be downgraded from impressive reminder of the loss and rebuilding of much of London to the shadowcaster in an oversized, underthought sundial at the front of this building.
Lest you get the idea that I'm some Prince Charles-level ignorant ranter on the topic of anything I don't know about, I'm not against modern architecture. If you look in the back of the photo in the Daily Mail article, you'll see one of my favourite buildings in London - the Gherkin. Yes, it does look like a giant steel and glass pickle, but it's one of the most interesting buildings around, let alone in the City.

London Monument to disappear into the guts of monstrous accordion - Boing Boing
London's Great Fire Monument to get new accordion-shaped neighbour | the Daily Mail

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