buildings

DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY INTO THE SUN.

The sunset was beautiful yesterday, from high on top of a hill in Richmond where the river twists confusingly around, no longer creating the strict north-south dividing line of London in my head. The sun setting was also rather a problem, being that the park closes at dusk and I was at the wrong end of it at the time. But the gates stayed open to let walkers and bikers through, but not cars. The deer were soothing to see, indeed the size of the park itself was rather soothing. I will be going there more often.

Powerstation, Wandsworth.

I rode along the riverbank for a while. Two competing schools of architecture dominate. One is the modern luxury apt complex, some built, others just construction sites with ads plastered on their outer fences: "If you lived here you'd be home right now, and OH what a cool, hip, pottery-barn sort of life would it be". The other is old school industrial. Such structures would include working docks, a heliport, various plants and this building.

Architecture has always interested me. Whenever I go to a museum I am usually more inspired and awestruck by the architecture than the art and objects enclosed within them. When I recently visited the newly refurbished British Museum, I found the Great Court, created by famous British architect Norman Foster (& partners) a wonderful public space, and I also found the round reading room, built in the 19th century by Robert Smirke equally fascinating, for different reasons. I am hoping to learn more about London architecture by volunteering for London Open House. I am seriously considering going back to school to become an architect, but one of the things that holds me back is that I would have to take a few additional years of classes in the UK. (In the US my undergraduate degree would get me into a graduate program. Albeit a longer graduate program than normal, three instead of two years, but still much shorter than starting all over again, which is required in the UK.) I will take things slowly and see what becomes of volunteering first.