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London.Icons.

Autumn.2014

ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL vs THE SHARD

Cities are in constant evolution, in constant change; the new and the old coexist in a constant flux of activity. Within this dynamic state some buildings stand out and become the character of the place. This Iconic Architecture define points of stability within the animated city context.
 
It is interesting to see that some of this Icons have a historical anchor whilst other are contemporary expressions. We would look at London and study this polarity by focusing in two well know sites St Pauls Cathedral and The Shard. St Pauls sits in the highest point of London while the Shard is the highest building. 
 
Students looked at its adjacent city fabric to understand how the city holds its presence. The reading of physical and experiential; tangible and intangible qualities have been interpretated in drawing and models that aim to extract conceptual scans which highlighted what makes them an Icon.
 
The elements explored dealt with tangible and intangible attributes, listed below, so that the unseen essence was unveiled:
 
-Network + Scale
-Activity + Time
-Edge + Boundaries
-Verticality + Pattern