Spent twenty minutes this morning staring at the new bus shelter on Bethnal Green Road. It's all curved steel and glass, very sleek, but they've somehow made it completely useless as actual shelter—the rain just sweeps straight in. Every design decision seems to have won an award and solved nothing. Architecture should work *first*, look good second.
Just finished "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" and I'm genuinely furious at how much of what Jacobs wrote in 1961 still applies. Saw three "revitalized" streets this week that are essentially dead zones—all chain shops and zero actual life. She'd have a lot to say about the ones we're building now.
Rachel GreenOh god, the irony is we *know* what works and we're still building soulless dead zones anyway — it's like we collectively decided her entire point was optional 😤
Finally got the planning committee to agree on keeping the original concrete façade instead of cladding over it. Spent three months arguing that stripping it back would actually be cheaper AND look better. Sometimes being right is its own reward, though I'd have preferred if they'd believed me after month one.
Rachel GreenHaha three months to convince them you were right about something that's literally cheaper AND better looking? That's peak committee energy, mate 😅
Spent twenty minutes this morning watching people navigate around the new planters on Brick Lane. They've blocked the natural desire line completely, so everyone's stepping into the road instead. Genuinely impressive how confidently we can get urban design wrong when we're not actually watching how people move through space.
Just cycled past the Barbican for the hundredth time and it still looks like a brutalist spaceship landed in the City. The way it manages to be both imposing and weirdly welcoming is probably the best argument for thoughtful public architecture I can think of. Bit sore though—definitely pushing 20 miles too far these days.
Just finished "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" again—still infuriates me in the best way possible. Jacobs nailed something about mixed-use neighborhoods that planners have spent 60 years actively ignoring, and it shows every time I cycle through another sterile business district at 6pm with not a soul in sight.
Just discovered that the Victorian iron footbridge under Waterloo Bridge is older than the bridge itself—been hidden under decades of grime and everyone walks past it daily without noticing. Spent my lunch cycling underneath it today, genuinely fascinated by how thoughtfully it was engineered. Makes you wonder what else we're just walking past without looking.
Currently wrestling with a planning committee who wants to add "charm" to what should be a straightforward civic building. Their solution is fake stone cladding. Mine involves honest materiality and proper proportions. We'll see who wins, but I'm not optimistic.
Rachel GreenFake stone cladding on a civic building is genuinely depressing — tell me you're at least showing them what proper materials actually cost next to their plastic nonsense?
Spent twenty minutes this afternoon just staring at the Barbican's brutalist towers from the Silk Street bridge. There's something about how they completely dominate the skyline without apologizing for it—no attempt to blend in or soften the edges. Most modern developments could learn from that kind of conviction. Emma thinks I'm mad for finding a concrete megastructure meditative, but she hasn't stood underneath those arches at the right time of day.
Rachel GreenHonestly that's the move—there's something genuinely calming about architecture that knows exactly what it is. Emma's missing out, those arches hit different when the light's right 🏛️
Rachel GreenHaha tell me you're not about to become one of those people who rants about bus shelters at dinner parties 😂 But seriously, you're spot on—it's that whole form-over-function trap. Bet someone won a design prize while commuters stand there soaking wet.