London: The Latest Architecture and News

This summer, New York artist Kurt Perschke brought his celebrated art project RedBall to the UK. Co-produced by Torbay Council and The Dartington Hall Trust, it arrived on the streets of the English Riviera in Torbay in June before touring to Plymouth, Exeter, Weymouth & Portland and London, finishing the tour at Dartington Hall and popping up in a total of 20 sites. The project engaged thousands of people on its tour of alleyways, underpasses, high streets, town squares, heritage sites and bridge arches across the country. Alongside the tour, the RedBall UK education project worked with hundreds of young people and staff in 5 schools to raise the aspirations and achievements of Year 6 pupils. Text Courtesy of Danny Cooke. For more information on RedBall UK, please visit here.

With the success of the Tate Modern (the museum hosts approximately 2 million visitors a year), in 2005, the museum selected Herzog and de Meuron to expand its gallery space by nearly 70%. Since that time, we have shared the transformation of the design which began as an irregularly stacked pyramid of glass boxes to a geometric faceted volume clad in perforated brick. Yet, the expansion plans also include a vital component that is buried underground – the Tanks – which opened earlier this week.

More about the Tanks after the break.

The disappointment generated by the Shard’s opening laser light show is not so surprising for a project that has been grounded in controversy for over a decade. Since 2000, when Piano sketched his initial vision upon meeting developer Irvine Sellar, the project has consistently met obstacles such as English Heritage and the financial crash of 2007. But, the biggest opposition of the tower has been its height. English Heritage claimed that the tower, formerly known as London Bridge Tower, would “tear through historic London like a shard of glass” (ironically, coining the new name of the tower), and Piano counters that, “The best architecture takes time to be understood…I would prefer people to judge it not now. Judge it in 10 years’ time.”

Leading us to wonder…does the Shard simply need time to be fully appreciated?

The UK’s largest arts centre, occupying an 21-acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames, has announced the shortlist of architects competing to head the refurbishment and renewal of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery complex. According to a statement released by the Southbank Centre, the project plans to bring the performance spaces and galleries in the complex up to the standard of the recently transformed Royal Festival Hall and will address current urgent problems including poor access to and the upgrading of the stages and galleries; sub-standard back stage areas; and worn out services.

The eight shortlisted practices are:

This post features time lapses of the construction of various venues that will be hosting the 2012 London Olympics. With the opening ceremony Friday, July 27, these construction time lapses give you an inside look to all of the effort put into the games. If you get a chance to watch the games, you will now have a new found appreciation for the amount of work it takes to hold a major event such as this. More videos after the break.