Located opposite Warren Street Tube Station is Regent’s Place, a mixed use area of glass retail units and office buildings. Designed by EDCO and Sheppard Robson Architects for British Land PLC with ARUP as the engineers it was the winner of the 2004 Civic Trust Award. The square at the centre of this development is a mixture of sculpture, lighting and architecture all blending together to give a dramatic effect. There are two main features to the square and they are the illuminated fan and a planting area that is suspended above the paving on a series of metal poles and clad with a 19th century work by Edward Hodges Baily. The landscape is linked with the surrounding built environment with strands of illuminated fibre optic lighting set into the paving. To me it is a place, which is probably best viewed at night when the art works of the space are lit up and showed at their best. In a wet environment the users of the space tend to not used the seating given and therefore the space becomes under used. In dry conditions there are lots of areas for people to sit and eat with benches that reflect the undulating turf and a spiral stone seating area as well.
Spitalfields Market.
For lunch we went to one of my favourite places in London, Spitalfields Market. Currently it is under going further refurbishment in order to complete the re development of the area, with new retail units housed within the existing market that has different markets every day. Within Spitalfields market Spencer and myself decided to eat at this new place called Leon, which is described by The Times to be “the new place in fast food”. Expecting it to not be too good I was very surprised. At lunch you get a range of veggie of meat dishes to choose from and all dishes are served in biodegradable boxes, which looks quite different. All their meat is from farms in Devon and dishes are made using seasonal ingredients. The lemon, mint and ginger quencher is yummy. I shall stop there, as I’m not a food critic, but it was all very nice and good value too! :)
Surrounding Spitalfields Market a number of shops have kept their original facades from the Victorian times. However, within them are more modern businesses or businesses trying to recapture the time when there was a greater choice and not everything was all packaged in plastic. These shops provide a great contrast to Liverpool Street itself where modern glass office blocks have been constructed and Starbucks and other chains line the road.
No comments:
Post a Comment