1. Crystal Palace Subway
Why is the station there?
Back before the war the Crystal palace exhibition space was on top of Sydnam hill, it was one of the most popular attractions at the time. Wealthy people didn’t want to walk up the hill to the exhibition as it was quite steep, so a station was opened in 1865 for them. The part you see in the subway is what remains of the 1st class ticket hall. In 1936 the Crystal Palace Exhibition was destroyed by a large fire, the red glow of the fire could be seen from the south coast.
The rest of the station was pulled down as people thought it was an eye sore in the 1960’s, it was certainly cultural vandalism of the highest order and wouldn’t happen today.
2. Roca Gallery
The Roca Gallery is a very stylish building and very complicated design. Its mostly made out of concrete and glass. The late Zaha Hadid was the architect inspired by water to create the curves and flow of the building. She was know as the queen of curves.
It is used as a bathroom showroom making it a unique space. I visited during open house London where we were given an interesting tour by one of the architects from the Hadid’s firm and one of the management from Roca.
An Italian firm who are known for their stylish showroom gallery spaces. They have many famous buildings around the world to show off their bathrooms.
The building was a complex build as all the curves are made out of concrete. Each piece was manufactured in Germany and there were 236 interior panel & 36 facade panels. It used a special concrete which has glass reinforcement the panels had to be small enough to be easily transportable.
It took 2 years to build and to budget. Find out more on the links below, this was another fabulous building to discover on Open House London.
I looking forward to discovering more buildings next year, thanks for reading.
Links
Flickr – httpss://www.flickr.com/photos/alalchan/albums/72157635928785086
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/alalchan
Roco Gallery – https://www.rocalondongallery.com
Open House London – httpss://www.openhouselondon.org.uk
