New Pavilions - London

This is it - our last stop on this trip to Europe!

My cousins flew out of the city yesterday - extremely tired from over 3 weeks of traveling and overloaded with all sorts of information!

My sis and me equally devastated - had another two days to go before we were on our way out. We really needed some rest but the thought that we won't be back in London for a while kept us going... There were a few things that I had told my sis I would show her when we were back in London - starting with a walk by the south bank ... a visit to the Design Museum and a stop at the London Fashion Museum...

But then there is all the new stuff in town that I wanted to see and lastly - friends I had say another good bye to... Negotiating to do as much as possible we traced a path that started with the stuff she wanted see followed by the new stuff - meeting as many people as possible on the way.

Here's a few photos of some of the interesting architecture we saw yesterday and today-

The London Fashion Museum designed by the mexican architect - Ricardo Legorreta

The new students pavilion - Driftwood - outside the AA was designed by Danecia Sibingo with a whole munch of 3rd year students.

Though it's less of a pavilion - its a great piece of sculpture!

Then there is the much talked about Serpentine Pavilion.

This year the pavilion is designed by the Japanese Star duo of Sanaa..

There is no doubt that this lighthearted structure is soo much more fitting to its purpose than last years bulky trash designed by Frank Gehry!

Most of my friends hated it's simplicity and flimsy look - I argued that it's playfulness is exactly what is required from a structure that is designed to be dismantled in only 3 months!

Lastly - we went to see the newly opened 7-7 memorial.

This simple but powerful memorial was designed by - Carmody Groarke architects

The 7/7 memorial is cast in rough textured stainless steel, each representing one of the victims. They are grouped together in four inter-linking clusters reflecting the four incidents, with each bearing an inscription of the date and location of the particular incident that its cluster represents, but not the name of the victim.