LONDON - VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM ( V&A) SOUTH KENSIGTON

If you ask what's the most complex and largest museum of decorative arts and design in the world it's got to be V&A museum.



The history of designing and building is very colmplex and can be subdivide to few periods.



Victorian period :

The museum of decorative arts and design was first created in existing building Marlborough House but as it later transpired it was to small for constantly increasing number of students and new land located to the south of Hyde Park( Brompton Park House area then) was purchased in 1954 with profits from the 1851 Great Exhibition.



The very first design was put forward by Prince Albert himself (his building was hidiously ugly and visiously called the boilers) then the proffesionals took over the job, James Pennethorne and the works were supervised by Francis Fowke.



The museum in victorian style was first open for the publiuc in 1857 as the south Kensington Museum.During those times there were several further extensions built to main building, additional wings and finally internal courtyard .



Each part of building widely decorated by famous artists and designers like: Lord leigthton( none existing now frescoes)



Owen Jones( decoration of additional galeries), F.W Moody ( ceramic decorated staircase)



With the death of Francis Fowke , Henry Young Darracott Scott became architect responsible for further additions.



Edwardian period:

In 1899 -1909 the part of the building that creates the main facade that stretches across the Cromwell Gardens was designed and built by architect Aston Webb - with main entrance in mix of renaissance and medieval syle shallow arches, slender columns and curved nishes surrounding the twin main entrance doors ( some reliefs curved by Alfred Drury)



The architect also designed an open work crown surmounted by a statue of fame.



Although the main hall by Aston Webb makes much use of marble, the internal decoration of new galleries was mostly white with restrained classical detail and much purer than the one of Victorian times.



Recent times:

Recently, the competition for a new extension called Spiral was anounced and the winning architectural practice was Daniel Liebeskind studio, unfortunately project was abandomned as the project was concidered by many as out of keeping with the architecture of the original buildings.



In 2005 the internal garden in the courtyard was re-designed by Kim Wilkie and opened as the John Madejski Garden.



The complex of Victoria & Albert Museum buildings together with neighbouring Science Museum and Natural History Museum, creates area which is often called Albertopolis .
Its collection of art and design is one of the largest in the world , and you can find here originals and copies of masterpieces of art from all periods, of all styles.
It is not possible to visit it all during one weekend.

LONDON - KEW GARDENS

The Kew gardens are the Royal Botanical Gardens in London an cover an area of 121 hectares.



The site incorporates the world's largest collection of living plants including the species that are very unusual for our climatic zone and a lot of realy amazing buildings and structures like glass houses that are the masterpieces itselfs. Some of them housing hundreds of palm trees, some the cactuses, orchids and other incredeable plants.



The main glass house called Palm House (1844-1848) was designed by architect Decimus Burton and iron -founder Richard Turner who basically foolowed design principles developed by Joseph Paxton and John Claudius Loudon.The uncommon collection of cactuses and tropical species have been built up at the Princess of Wales conservatory(In front of the conservatory there is asculpture "A Maximis Ad Minima" by Eduardo Paolozzi )



The other green house, called Temperate House is a group of glass houses that is the world's largest surviving Victorian glass structure - designed again by Decimus Burton and Richard Turner.



Very interesting feature of the lake, further in the center of the site is recently constructed The Sackler Crossing, the minimalistic, granite and bronze bridge by John Pawson and Buro Happold.



There is also a replica of the karamon( gateway) Nishi Hongan -ji temple in Kyoto and the Pagoda within the traditional Japanese garden.



The gardens have a fantastic walkway by Marks Barfield Architects ( the architects of the London Eye), called "Xstrata Treetop walkway" 18 metres high and 200 metres long that allows you to see the trees' crowns from a high level, and see the miraculous panoramas of entire complex.The walkway was designed as a steel construction which with time was supposed to rust to a tree- like appearance.
and what's even more interesting its shape was based on a Fibonacci numerical sequence.
Below, underneath the ground there is another attraction designed, called Rhizotron
which is basically exhibition explaining all the proceseses  and relationships between the living organisms and trees.( for other famous sctructures by Marks Barfields Architects refer to my post from May 2011  http://architectureofeurope.blogspot.com/2011/05/london-london-eye-south-bank-of-thames.html   )



The gardens offer so many attractions that it is almost impossible to visit them all at once .



My girlfriend and I do love "concrete" more than the plants, but after an experience with these gardens we must say we now appreciate the gardens a lot more than we did it before.

LONDON - TOWER BRIDGE

Sensational, vivid  colors, very characteristic two towers and a steel elements  spanning over the Thames River that draws the attention of  milions of tourists every year and have become the icon of

London and grade one listed structure- yes we are talking about the Tower Bridge in London designed in victorian gothic style.
The bridge was built in 19-th century as a new river crossing that was supposed to support existing bridges and river passages due to encreasing traffic and number of developments in London at that time.

There were over 50 proposals submitted for the architectural competition and the winner was a design put forward by Sir Horace Jones.

His architectural office proposed a structure called two leaf, combined bascule and suspension bridge - a type of movable bridge with counterwights that continuously balance the spans and allow the leaves to swing with the pivot located in the massive piers located at the bed of the river.

This type of construction allowed the tall masted ships to pass the structure and access the port.

The structure consisted of two towers and a steel platform between them at a higher level and originally it was powered by hydraulic system - nowadays it can be operated by three steam engines.



The entire construction was made of steel .We can see steel trusses for the decking , steel lines ,and spans, even the two towers commonly concidered to be masonary are steel structure cladded with the Cornish granite and portland stone tiles.


At first the structure was painted dark chocolate brown then it was re-painted red, white and blue for the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977.


It has been always very strong point amongst the tourist attractions of that beautyfull city.
One of the towers houses the museum of the bridge that is open for vistors.



It has been always very strong point amongst the tourist attractions of that beautyfull city.
One of the towers houses the museum of the bridge that is open for vistors.



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