Tony's Tour in Central London

    We had the Tony's Tour 2 in Central London today. We went to Liberty, The Photographers' Gallery, Riflemaker, The Cloth House, Architecture Association, L.Cornelisen & Son, Sir John Soane's Museum, Hunterian Museum and Magma.
    Libertiy is a large shopping mall which gathers stuff about beauty, fashion, home and gifts. The design of this building is quite different from normal modern shopping centre. Actually it is one of the last great emporiums for innovative and eclectic design, situated in the heart of London since 1875. At Liberty, a rich heritage combining with the cutting edge and avant-garde really impress me. The retro furnishing and decorating coordinates the atmosphere in Liberty, even the details of stairs and elevator. It is a very classical example for reusing old buildings, not just for museum or gallery, but for the modern shopping life.

 

    I really hoped to visit the Architecture Association since I arrived in London. Not only for its fame, but also for its rich source of architecture. The AA was originally set up in 1847. It is much more than the UK's oldest school of architecture. The AA also has a bookshop which is one of London's leading architectural book sellers. I've bought two books about reusing old buildings in modern society, I hope they will help me to come to more understand for my MA project.

    There is another place that I really liked, the Sir John Soane's Museum. Sir John Soane who was an architect, designed 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields as his home and as a setting for his antiquities and works of art. The interior design is extraordinary wonderful, also his collection of antiquities. The details of his home and collection are beautiful and novel. I think the museum includes almost every European classical decorative patterns. It is the best place to feel the classical beautiful of middle ages Europe. Because Sir John Soane was an architect, the design for the lighting and the utilization of the space was quite modern in that era, we can still get influenced by this design nowadays.

    I payed much attention to the details of old buildings in London to help with my collection project. I hope to get well know about the details to understand the importance of old buildings. I will collect different types of details of Chinese and European old architecture and the reusing ways of these old architecture, to come up with a solution about the advantage in reusing old architecture in London through contrasting the difference.