NO Astoria was flattened to make way for the main TCR intersection where Crossrail meets the tube. They've gutted that entire block, putting in a brand new tube entrance which will have to be about five times bigger tahn the current one, and then building new shops/offices around it. Rumours are they'll rebuild the Astoria from scratch, but I dunno how true that is. They're also paving all of the road underneath Centre Point and making it some sort of open plan walkway, which is very Liverpool Street-style. The Dean Street entrance sits halfway between Oxford Circus and TCR, on Oxford Street.
I could also do without Centre Point, although again like the Barbican it's one of those that kind of escapes the clutches of true 60s architectural horror. I love the fact it was unoccupied for about a decade...
Crossrail Paddington: Crossrail Canary Wharf: Crossrail Liverpool Street: Crossrail Whitechapel: this must be costing a fucking fortune.
Any excuse for a load of new buildings (and railway stations at that!) It's certainly gonna make crossing London much easier (why has this never happened before??)
probably because of our tube - a curse and a blessing. The talk of the world in the late 19th Century; then we realise 50 years later that we either have to rip it out and start again (NOT possible) or build around it. I believe Crossrail took about a decade just to plan the engineering.
I had a brief detour via parts of London on my way home today. The Shard really is obscenely large and can be seen from various sites. Impressive. I also saw the wind turbine building. Which I liked a LOT.
Where the FUCK is that going to go in Whitechapel? I can't think of any space big enough. Not that I know every NOOK and CRANNY of the area.
I've JUST seen that tube map that funky posted. When I saw the new transport links for SE London I felt like I wanted to CRY with JOY. Then I realised that in 2025, I'll be FORTY-FIVE, probably (hopefully) DEAD and that those links don't go anywhere NEAR far enough.
to be fair EIL they're well on their way. Didn't the next junction of East London line open today? That'll keep a few GROTTY ARSENAL FANS off the Picadilly line on WEEKENDS
Fulbourne Street, but I am reading that has been scrapped and crossrail will now use the existing entrance on Whitechapel road
Glass Shard coming on well now, will be the tallest building in Europe when completed in 2012 Pic taken this month
How exciting. I'm in London this weekend. Perhaps I'll go along and have a nose. I still get a bit excited whenever I see the Gherkin.
Ooh that is HOT. I'm still not sure about the Shard and what it will do to the feng-shui of the london skyline though. It's too aggressive looking. I predict a rise in knife crime in all the boroughs of London that can see it.
what the Pinnacle? According to Wiki, yes. I've been asking people who live that way for ages and they keep saying "oh yeah some tower has had its foundations built" but they are obviously ignorant and stupid because they can't confirm or deny whether it's the Pinnacle. I can't for one say I've seen it in my 2 times I've been to the City this year *pretends to know anything about East London*
We got the Thames Clipper back to Waterloo from the O2 last night and it all looked LOVELY in the dark.
If I was YOUNG again, I think I'd like to study architecture. Not with the intention of being an architect (I'm not clever enough), just to appreciate things a bit more and understand it better.
Andrew Marr climbs crane building London's Shard Three floors are being added every two weeks. It feels like that too. I'm starting to see it from all over the place.
I went on a helicopter flight all over London yesterday and we flew at the same height as the crane on top of the Shard. It was SO FUN.
