the roof gardens

This was another London 'Open House' visit. If you look up to the roof of Barkers near High Street Kensington tube you'll see what looks like the tops of fully grown trees.
It is in fact a garden designed in the 1930s. If it wasn't for the views out of the Japanese styled circular windows you'd forget that you were 100 feet up in the air.

the serpentine pavilion

This year the Serpentine Pavilion has been designed by Frank Gehry.
Gehry's flamboyant timber structure uses his signature crazy geometry.
We went on what seemed to be one of the best days of the summer.
As a result the roof structures were shown off to perfect effect with a blue skied backdrop.

the young vic

Last weekend was 'Open House' when buildings all over London are open to the public.
We drew up a list of places we wanted to visit and headed out firstly to Kensington High Street to visit the roof gardens, but more about that in the next post.
It was a cracking weekend with blue skies all day. Everyone was outside and it made me instantly want to live in London again.
The Young Vic is a theatre on the Cut near Waterloo Station.
It's recently had a complete overhaul and is looking stunning in its distressed coolness.
It was a perfect place to eat outside on such a beautiful day and would be just as good on a more typical grey London day with its light filled café space.
It orginally was a butchers and they've kept the original facade and interior tiles from the shop.

finnish

I've just come back from visiting a friend who lives in the beautiful forested countryside of Finland. They're living in an old traditional Finnish country house which they're gradually renovating. She showed me this old wooden barn which is on part of their land. The wood has aged to a beautiful silvery grey and is nestled inconspiciously amongst the birch trees.
The door opens with the most enormous old key - to reveal inside a treasure trove of bits and pieces they've collected together from other out buildings on the property.
This old sleigh apparently is in good condition and is on their list of projects to restore for winter sleigh rides!

hong kong, sydney, moscow

I'm getting a collection of funny signs from places I've visited. These ones are especially good - especially when taking into account where they were taken..

from mickey to tiki

A friend sent me this card from New Zealand.
Then I kept seeing this poster everywhere around Montpellier today..

the barcelona pavilion

I took these images of Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion in the late 90s while visiting Barcelona for the first time. I came across them again recently and they reminded me of how impressive the space was. The pavilion had been one of the places I was really excited about seeing, as at the time I was a big Mies fan.
Although I now see how unsuited for functional living most of his buildings are, each time I visit one of them (I've planned visits to countries around his architecture!) I admire his single-minded obsession with aesthetics and organisation of space.
Mies used swathes of marble in the Barcelona Pavilion which contrasting with the glass walls, gives an understated and sophisticated feel. He also designed the classic Barcelona chair for the pavilion.