Category Archives: Building

May 18 2019
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Architecture, Britain, Building, Construction, Edinburgh, Middle Ages, Photography, Scotland, Tourism, Travel, Uncategorized, United Kingdom

St. Giles’ Cathedral – the High Kirk of Edinburgh.

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Situated on the Royal Mile and in its current incarnation dated from the late 14th century, I’ve walked past it roughly 6,000 times yet have never been in the fucker. My reasons are multifarious, but one of them is that I don’t enjoy the manipulation, i.e., architectural determinism, of it all. The splendour I can enjoy from afar. Some find a solitude in churches; I just have visions of the terror they’ve inflicted, and this presently includes the tractor beam that pulls in hordes of cretin tourists. Sorry not sorry.

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May 06 2019
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Architecture, Art, Britain, Building, Edinburgh, Photography, Tourism, Uncategorized

Leith Walk trompe-l’œil.

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The highlight of Leith Walk. This reminds me of the (probably apocryphal) pretend convenience stores North Korea parades for tourists. Except this cultural gem has actual real-life Buckfast, and reasonably priced, too.

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May 01 2019
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Architecture, Britain, Building, Edinburgh, Leith, Photography, Scotland, Tourism, Travel, Uncategorized

Persevere Court, Leith.

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I was pointlessly waddling around Leith and Newhaven again this afternoon in search of existential equilibrium. Sadly, I did not find such a level of spiritual enlightenment. I did, however, locate another treat that adorns the view from Ocean Terminal. They tell me the bad boys go by the name of ‘Persevere Court’. The first thing that popped into my head was: are sprinkler systems installed? The second: the colour scheme must have been designed by someone who has frequented far too many Ryanair flights.

Outrageous scenes.

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Apr 11 2019
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Architecture, Building, Construction, Tourism, Travel, Uncategorized

Brande skyscraper.

Brande in Denmark has a meagre population of 7,000 and there is very little to distinguish it … until now.

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The Danish clothing company Bestseller, its headquarters in the town, aims to put Brande ‘on the map’ with its construction of a 320-metre skyscraper, newspapers mockingly referring to it as the Tower of Sauron, this an all-seeing ‘evil thing’ in the Lord of the Rings works that didn’t quite make sense. And that wasn’t the end of the nonsensical with those movies – one could have summoned an eagle and had the fucker drop the ring in that volcano.

Anyway, back to Denmark. The skyscraper will house offices, a hotel, and some shops. More shite, just what an unspoiled landscape needs ….

Further reading:

https://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=2020721

https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?destination=%2fworld%2f2019%2f04%2f01%2fdenmark-will-be-building-europes-tallest-skyscraper-town-could-this-be-new-trend%2f%3f&utm_term=.b83449138357

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/apr/01/like-the-eye-of-sauron-western-europes-tallest-building-planned-for-tiny-danish-town-brande-bestseller

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/tiny-danish-town-plans-build-western-europes-tallest-skyscraper-180971874/

 

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Apr 08 2019
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Architecture, Building, Construction, Edinburgh, Photography, Uncategorized

Hutchison House, Edinburgh.

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Grim as fuck, this one. It smacks of the ’60s – poverty and deprivation in the so-called swinging era. It’s the type of building a skag head would chuck himself off. Some things need demolished; this is one of them. Yuk.

 

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Apr 04 2019
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Architecture, Building, Canada, Construction, Tourism, Travel, Uncategorized

Habitat 67.

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I squirm at this but can’t stop staring. 146 apartments in Montreal, a breathing Lego kit with its own ecosystem. Designed by Moshe Safdie, this was meant to revolutionise affordable housing but its legacy is the opposite – a unit can set you back up to $1 million.

I guess it looks better than most dilapidated high-rises but for fuck’s sake, your crib is a tourist attraction. Every time you look out the window an army of Jimmy Stewarts are outside looking in, a Rear Window (1954) role reversal. Disturbing. What if you’re caught with a prossie?

If this is a glimpse of the future, I don’t wish to stick around for it.

Further reading:

https://www.mtlblog.com/lifestyle/what-a-1000000-apartment-looks-like-in-montreals-habitat-67

http://www.towertrip.com/inside-the-most-beautiful-habitat-67-unit-that-just-hit-the-market/

 

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Apr 03 2019
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Architecture, Building, Edinburgh, Photography, Scotland, Tourism, Uncategorized, United Kingdom

In a nutshell. Leith, Edinburgh.

Rambling around Leith today taking snaps. The port district is ugly but it has character. I would wager it has the highest concentration of junkies and creatives per square mile than anywhere else in Scotland. Everyone knows someone who’s on the smack, yet conversely their next-door neighbour will have aspirations of being this generation’s Bukowski.

The pubs also ‘suffer’ from deflation.

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Mar 25 2019
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Architecture, Building, Norway, Tourism, Travel, Uncategorized

Straight Outta a Bond Villain. Under, Lindesnes. Norway’s underwater eatery.

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Lindesnes, Norway. A meal at ‘Under’ can cost up to £350, this Europe’s first underwater munch den with 100 seats available for diners. Food has never interested me much (unless I’m pished and craving kebabs) save the architectural design of eateries; I suppose the idea behind this venue is that it’s an ‘experience’. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) comes to mind, the only decent Roger Moore number in the Bond canon. Though the restaurant is only five metres under the sea, it’s a step in the right direction, the ultimate aim a Pot Noodle in the wreck of the Titanic.

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Further reading:

https://www.artfido.com/underwater-restaurant-has-been-completed-in-norway-and-it-looks-out-of-this-world/?fbclid=IwAR1L8T5J3G62DxAQp-FQp_o6b6iyO3-4Jk_JEJB5_OypptcRMMNErJ2iVQE

https://www.dw.com/en/worlds-largest-underwater-restaurant-opens-in-norway/a-48002099

https://under.no/

 

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Mar 16 2019
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Architecture, Building, Construction, Soviet Union, Tourism, Travel, Uncategorized, USSR

House of Soviets in Kaliningrad.

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What is it about the Evil Empire and their ugly-as-fuck brutalist buildings? A legacy imbued with obsessions of ‘social realism’ shows scant regard for anything ‘real’ about its constructs; concrete eyesores sticking out like sore thumbs, their centrepiece buildings merely highlight the lunacy of the ideology running the system.

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In the Kaliningrad enclave, we have this anomaly plonked there, a robot geezer built beside the rubble of Königsberg Castle. It speaks to the USSR’s fixation with technology and its precedence over the human element. A central administration building, its interior was never finished and the project ran out of cash. It did, however, receive a paint job in 2005.

Nuts.

Further reading:

https://www.archdaily.com/897382/the-house-of-soviets-why-should-this-symbolic-work-of-soviet-brutalism-be-preserved

https://failedarchitecture.com/the-rebuilding-of-a-hornets-nest/

 

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Mar 09 2019
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Building, Edinburgh, Photography, Scotland, Uncategorized, United Kingdom

Aldi was drama-free today.

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Where are the tracksuits?

No chavs, no nutters, no shoplifters, no screaming kids, and not a single person this evening decided to whistle at the top of their lungs (vile behaviour which should be a private avocation).

What a rare day of serenity in Aldi.

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