LONDON - CAMDEN TOWN AREA

Camden town area is a district located to the North of London and is recently one of the favourite places for artists and many youth subcultures.





The most characteristic lanmarks of the town are two lovely main streets, Camden High Street and Kentish Town Rd that run through the town and are surrouded by most vibrant, and hideous commercial buildings I have ever seen, a water chanel with lots of little bridges , pedestrian passages, and many open air market places, and art galleries.



The architecture of the town draws everyones attention with its odd shapes, flashy colors of the facades, vibrant signages to shops, appealing look of the bars, restaurants and pubs.



To me, the most interesting of the market places were Camden Lock created within the courtyard of the adapted existing building and Stables Market - located in the former horse hospital place. Stables Market was refurbished and provided with contemoporary features like canopies to newly created restaurants(made of steel and fabric), market stalls, interesting landscape architecture like seats, sculptures, accesible steps etc.



Amy Winehouse lived there and the world's famous graffiti artist Banksy did few of his masterpieces in the area.



The banks of the water channel are the perfect place to have a rest after rummaging through exciting stalls with fake jewellery, souvenirs and panky rebel or vintage clothes and second hand shops.

LONDON - TATE MODERN GALERY - THE TURBINE HALL

One of the most recognizable landmarks of modern London - the former power station ( Bankside Power Station) originally designed in the mid 20th century by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, also responsible for design of Battersea Power Station




In the early 21th century the building has become really famous after its conversion to a modern gallery.The architects , Herzog & de Meuron kept the original external brick fasades and dominating tower, but re-organized the accesses to the building and most of all the interiours, taking the adventage of great empty spaces, and a perfect environment to create something grandeur,simplistic, and very unusual.




They also added an extention made of half transparent plexi panels at the top floor, to make better proportions an give it more contemporary character



The main hall is called until today the Turbine Hall.



Interesting external feature is the bridge also by Herzog & de Meuron, across the River Thames that is linking two banks and it also draws the attention to St Pauls Cathedral at the other end.



A lot of landscape architecture features ( together with the sculpture of a giant spider "Maman" by  Louise Bourgeois ) make the entire area tastefull and visitors friendly


















View Larger Map