Impressive Structures At Liege Station
In this home run from Stockholm, I didn’t see any good modern station architecture, until I got to Liege station.
Impressive Structures At Liege Station
So why can’t the Swedes, Danes and Germans, do what the Belgians obviously can?
The Amalienborg Palace
The Amalienborg Palace is the winter home of the Danish Royal family.
These pictures were taken about ten and show tourists just waiting around for something to happen.
Tiles At South Kensington Station
The tiles at South Kensington station seem to be being cleaned and repaired.
Tiles At South Kensington Station
The station is one of those that needs serious refurbishment and various proposals have been made.
Considering the station’s important location, with respect to the museums and Albertopolis, upgrading can’t come too soon!
Remove Weight To Make Something Better
You would think, that by now, we’ve pushed the technology in lifts, as far as we safely can.
But, go up in a very tall building and you’ll often have to change lifts to get to the top.
One of the problems was that the weight of the steel cable that holds the lift car up, was just too much.
But now Kone have come up with a carbon fibre lift cable, that is both light and strong. They call it Ultrarope and it’s described here on their web site.
They claim that maximum lift heights can rise from 500m to a kilometre, whilst saving energy too.
That sounds good to me.
It’s a classic case of improving something, by using a new lighter and stronger material.
Irving Sellar Does A Guy De Maupassant
Prufrock in the Sunday Times reported that Irving Sellar, who developed the Shard, has his own table in the restaurant on floor 32.
He must only be following the reasoning of Guy de Maupassant, who often ate lunch in the Eiffel Tower. Wikipedia says this.
Maupassant was but one of a fair number of 19th-century Parisians who did not care for the Eiffel Tower; indeed, he often ate lunch in the restaurant at its base, not out of any preference for the food, but because it was only there that he could avoid seeing its otherwise unavoidable profile.
So does Irvine Sellar feel like that about the monstrous Shard?
The New Pedestrian Bridge At East Croydon Station
Going south from Clapham Junction station today to Redhill, staff at Clapham said it would be quicker to go via East Croydon station.
It would appear that Network Rail is creating another of their excellent pedestrian overbridges.
This one isn’t as spectacular as Reading or Leeds, but it does seem, that Network Rail have got a concept that can be applied easily in different ways at various stations.
I should hope they’re working on a standard system, that can be used on the many stations, that need better access.
The Tower of London And Modern Buildings
I walked past the Tower of London on my way to get a DLR train at Tower Gateway station.
In some ways it could have been surrounded by a much worse collection of buildings. Although nothing of the quality of One New Change seems to have been built near to the Tower to blend the ancient and modern.
At least it’s impossible to see the Tower of London and the Tower Hotel at the same time.
The Monstrosity By The Tower
Watching the bridge go up and down, I realised what a classic of monstrous architecture, the Tower Hotel opposite where I stood, is!
I suspect that if anybody applied for planning permission today, they’d be sent back to their drawing board with several fleas in their ears, to think again. Wikipedia sums up the hotel like this.
The Tower Hotel, part of the Guoman collection, is situated on the north bank of the River Thames, on the east side of Tower Bridge, in London. It is built in a modern style considered unattractive by many, indeed it was voted the second ugliest building in London in a 2006 BBC poll. However, it is reputed to offer occupants excellent views from its rooms.
As you see, they do give the rooms credit. But I am very much reminded of Guy de Maupassant’s thoughts on the Eiffel Tower.
I think I went inside once to meet someone with C and our view afterwards was it is the sort of hotel, where you took somebody else’s husband or wife to impress them. I think one of her clients had done that, as I haven’t and I don’t think she ever did!
Are We Seeing A New Type Of Shopping Centre?
I have been impressed by One New Change by St.Paul’s in London.
Today, as I needed to eat on the way back from Burnley, I visited Trinity Leeds, which is a shopping centre close to Leeds station to have a late lunch in Carluccio’s.
Although, Trinity Leeds is four times as big as One New Change, it has a similar upmarket feel. When you stand both of them alongside such centres as Meadowhall, Lakeside and quite a few others, there is no comparison, although they are smaller.
They have both been developed by the same company; Land Securities. it would seem that some of the features and tenants have been chosen to improves the shopping experience. Both centres have an extensive selection of restaurants and have been designed to blend in, rather than dominate their neighbours. Leeds has even got an Art House cinema from Everyman Cinemas. Usually shopping centres, just have a multiplex showing exclusively Transatlantic trash.
From my point of view, the centre is ideally placed, as it puts a second Carluccio’s close to my preferred interchange station in the North of England; Leeds. I won’t use Leeds every time there is not a direct service from London, but for Burnley, Blackburn and possibly a few others, it is the best route, especially if I can get lunch.
The Bridge In Leeds Station
A few weeks ago, I visited Reading station and took pictures of the new overbridge there.
Today at Leeds I got a close look at the similar bridge over the tracks at Leeds station.
It is not so impressive as the bridge at Reading, but it is a few years older and probably built to a tighter budget. I think we’ll be seeing a lot more stations being built or rebuilt on similar lines.
Leeds shows one of the advantages of this design, in that on the bridge at the station, is a large coffee outlet, an information kiosk and plenty of seating. This seems to put them all where they are needed on the walking route for passengers changing trains. As the sides of the bridge are to a certain extent closed in with glass, it is much better place to wait for your train, than on the draughty platforms below.
If there is a problem, it is that there is possibly not enough escalators, although each platform does have a lift.
The Anonymous Widower 