north the center

In the next weeks, I will bring a couple of older pictures online, since to me, this site would feel incomplete without them. To start with, just some months ago, at the end of 2013, I spent a beautiful week in London, around Holland Park, Portobello Road, and the Regent’s Canal.

The area’s most interesting building was the Trellick Tower, a brutalist gem from the book, with raw concrete, repeated elements, and some exposed function: Grade II listed, thus unchangeable, and erected just behind Notting Hill, it starkly contrasts with all the villas down the hill. Outstanding as it is, I already knew this tower, since it is well visible from the coaches to London, regularly topping my list of the ugliest buildings in sight. But seeing the tower day after day for a week, I wanted to discover some beauty in it: And it is beautiful in its way, at least on a sunny day.

Holland Park proved to be a nice and quiet, charming little sibling of Hyde Park. The Regent’s Canal has a couple of different faces, starting out as run-down watery backyard, turning into a formidable stage for the richness around Regent’s Park, and later passing Little Venice and Camden Lock, both slowly turning into the reproduction of their own image.

 

One thought on “north the center

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.