norman foster seems to be everywhere with his easy formulaic spectacles. the eye is fun, the gherkin- silly, city hall with is spiralling ramp disappointingly hyped. the british museum dome is lovely, i thought. venturi and scott brown's sainsbury wing addition to the national gallery folded the facade of he original building while letting the dark blagg bring light into the interior. within the interior- pomo distortions of elements of architecture dont add much except for some snickers.
the jean nouvel mall right next to st pauls makes muddy brown glass and steel reflections of st pauls. views of the building become the generator of a street and elevator spectacle to the roof- where an undulating landscape is to serve as public space.
the city of london has more starchitecture lite. the cheesegrater and many more on their way. for me- the best of all of these was roger's lloyds with its sci-fi high tech pretentions. the gray concrete playing up against the sexy steel, the prefab and overstyled futurism on its sleeve. camp and fun.
this expressiveness of the tectonic for itself seems to have its roots in the self-serious (maybe) architecture of British brutalism- the most awe-inspiring must be megastructure of the barbican. mixing typologies from town houses to high rise apartments, streets in the sky connect different wings leaving vehicles below. enormous courtyards make awkward transitions from public to private with leftover remains of ancient buildings forming landmarks. the heavy grey brown concrete makes mad contradictions with the kitsch flowerpots and clotheslines in the windows as in peter and alison smithson's robinhood gardens near greenwich. here the two wings of the building make a courtyard filled with the debris of excavation. a garden has been grown on this mound. right near this building is goldfingers balfron tower with its detached lift core that is mirrored opposite on the other side of the city as the trellick tower. this is where lloyds comes from.
perhaps, a quick diversion now to the town of sheffield where megastructure madness sits on top of the hill opposite the main station. park hill is a housing complex all but completely abandoned. council housing as long bard crisscrossing the hill- the datum being the terrace line. the higher the hill the lesser the number of floors. the windows are all boarded up and the corridors are empty. the gardens wait for children to play- but they all seem to be in the play school within the complex- the only sign of life. the complex is a checklist of megastructure moves- bridges in the sky and a geometry that cares nothing for the contours or the street edge. the scale is magnificent though- especially when seen from the city on the other side of the tracks. a refurbishment plan seems ot be on- where the older wall space on the facade is being replaced by windows, while the windows are being replaced by coloured panels that make red, orange and yellow prettiness on the grey wall.
highpoint (1 and 2) are lubetkin's apartment buildings in the neighbourhood of highpoint. 1 is elegant high modernism with its pure white walls, its balcony details, the canopy and the way in meets the ground with a ground story of brown brick. in highpoint 2 the canopy raised on column figurines seems like a wink.
there is not much to say about the canary wharf development as it is generic as only new business districts can be.
the south bank for me hinged around the tate. within that gorgeous box the herzog and de meuron cleanliness. meanwhile an extension is being built to the rear and richard rogers is putting together three residential towers- we walked into the site office as buyers. renzo piano meanwhile is building the 'shard'. 
sainsbury wing / venturi and scott brown
us embassy / saarinen
soas
london wall - city of london museum
lloyds/ cheesegrater / gherkin - foster and rogers
canary wharf
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