From 67 acres of post-industrial landscape around Kings Cross station a new district is arising from the detritus of of the ‘railway lands’ that were built in the 1850s and 60s. New streets and public squares are being created as well as thousands of new homes, and a university campus. Granary square is host to the new campus for the University of the Arts, social housing and the Global Generation Skip Garden – which uses the symbol of re-construction, the skip, to provide a new home for a garden in a landscape of cranes and barriers as the ‘railway lands’ are re-born for a new purpose.
Stolpersteine in Düsseldorf
These small brass plaques, lodged in the pavement, are a reminder of the countless individual lives that make up the clinical statistics that confound our ability to assimilate the horror of the millions who died under Nazi ‘re-settlement’. The idea is simple – each ‘stone’ includes the name, year of birth, date of deportation, eventual destination and fate of individual residents who once lived in the building – ‘Hier Wohnte’. The project is the work of a Köln based artist, Gunter Demnig.
Random London
Through my journeys across London I often come across a rather random collection of images that interest me but don’t really fit into a larger group. So here we have a somewhat fragmented collection . Its a combination of parks, re-develevelopment sites and high streets, reflecting the changing urban landscape in London.
London Southbank
I love walking along London Southbank – here a just a few things that have caught my eye…
Beach huts – friends welcome, relatives by appointment
Beach huts can be found across seaside resorts in the UK – little miniature homes on the high-tide mark. Their history goes back to the origins of the seaside resort – and the idea that the beach and the sea could offer restorative powers – initially an option only for the wealthy. The ancestor of the beach hut was the bathing machine – a device that would have been familiar to Jane Austen. It allowed those from a more modest age to change from their street clothes and then enter the sea and enjoy it’s healing powers.
Lovelocks
I first came across lovelocks on a bridge in a small italian town, Cannobio on Lago Maggiore. Over a year later I found the Pont des Artes in Paris covered in a multi-cultural spread of padlocks offering public declarations of undying love. Always known as a meeting place for lovers it was something new to see a tapestry of locks spread across the wire barrier.
Brussels – an afternoon stroll
An afternoon stroll through St-Gilles in Brussels – looking at doorways. The spiralling twisted shapes of art nouveau doors and cartoon pictures on roller doors…
Highgate Wood – London
Highgate Wood is my local park – a place to walk, dream, relax and play. Part wildlife reserve, part Victorian park it lies on the ridge just below Highgate village. A remnant of the ancient forest of Middlesex, today it’s an extension of our backyards – with a semblance of the village life in the urban metropolis. In the summer the playing fields, centred around the mock-tudor cafe, become an idealised vision of the English village, with its cricket pitch, football games and children’s parties. Despite its village pretensions, it remains a truly urban space with joggers, dog walkers, buggies and tourists jostling for space along its paths and buses to central London running along the roads at its edges.
Stolpersteine in Aachen
Aachen the German border town that straddles Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium is probably best known for its Cathedral – the oldest in Northern Europe and the burial site of Charlemagne. The ‘Imperial Cathedral’ is a magnificent structure, composed of several distinct buildings constructed at various stages in its long history. But my interest in a brief visit to Aachen during a wet and cloudy January was to explore another history that lies in it’s pavements. This history is marked by small brass plaques that stand as memorials to those who were evicted, deported and murdered by the Nazis.
Düsseldorfer Weihnachtsmarkt
For the past 12 years I have spent Christmas in Düsseldorf – and each year I head to the Weihnachtsmarkt, the traditional Christmas market. For a month a little rural village arises on the streets of Düsseldorf. Spread across the Altstadt are lines of stalls selling traditional wooden toys, socks, crystals, and candles – the perfect solution for those last minute presents. Yet the true heart of the market is the food and glühwein stalls, which create a meeting place in the public square.
Garden barge square – an oasis on the thames
Reeds wharf on the southern side of the thames near Tower bridge is home to a floating garden – formed from a series of barges at the 200 year old Downings road moorings. The garden square is home to 70 residents with the gardens literally sitting on the barge roofs. Its a green oasis surrounded by the steel and glass of luxury apartments – all vying for their riverside space.