Walking tours, photo walks and workshops
Dates so far for 2023.
- 4 Feb : Winter Dusk Photo Walk : all details at barbican.org
- 25 March: Members' Photo Challenge : all details at barbican.org
- 12 April : Night Photography Workshop : all details at barbican.org
- 6 May : Members' Urban Garden Photo Walk : all details at barbican.org
- 1 July : Members' Square Mile Photo Walk : all details at barbican.org
- 9 September : Barbican to Charterhouse Photo Walk : all details at barbican.org
Please contact me with any enquiries about the different walks below, which uncover the stories about architecture and urban change in different parts of the city. All are in London and will appeal to groups large or small with an interest in exploring places through photography.
Concrete Futures
In Poplar, East London, the Balfron Tower and Robin Hood Gardens Estate are two celebrated examples of modern, Brutalist architecture. Now part of a Conservation Area, the Balfron Tower is Grade II* listed and being refurbished however Robin Hood Gardens failed to achieve listed building status and is undergoing demolition as part of the Blackwall Reach regeneration scheme. On this walk we reflect on the utopian ambitions of the architects behind these great social housing projects and question what aspects of their pasts might have led to such diverging futures.
See listing of this walk from the 23 Feb 2020 at architecture.com
Olympic Park - legacy landscape
London’s proposal for the 2012 Olympics was to develop a ‘legacy’ park for the future that would long outlast the temporary setting of the Games. The Park would be a model of sustainable urban landscape design and provide a backdrop for some inspirational architecture including the London Aquatics Centre and the RIBA Stirling Prize shortlisted Velodrome. With photographs from before and after the Games along with insights of living within the local neighbourhood, learn how the Olympic Park of a decade ago became the Olympic Park of 2022.
See listing for this walk from 25 Sep 2021 at architecture.com
Walking the Leaway
Discover a once hidden part of East London on this walk along the River Lea. Starting at the edge of the Olympic Park, the route on towpaths and cobbles, passes Georgian architectural heritage at Three Mills, alongside newly regenerated waterside homes and on to the sustainable community space of Cody Dock.A once fragmented urban landscape of East London’s industrial past is now the backbone for an extended Lea River Park that links the Olympic Park to the Thames. Along the way we will pass several sculptures on The Line art trail as well as find thriving wildlife and surprising views of London’s skyline.
See listing for from the 24th Oct 2021 at architecture.com
Canada Water and Rotherhithe:
The industrial wharves of Rotherhithe were some of the first in London to undergo regeneration as old and derelict warehouse buildings were architecturally re-modelled into residential flats and loft-style apartments. Over previous centuries, Rotherhithe was a watery landscape of shipyards, docks and timber ponds with international trade connecting this maritime London village to Canada, the Baltic and Scandinavia. The walk follows the scenic waterway of the Albion Channel, scales Stave Hill for spectacular views and then descends to discover the architecture and heritage of Rotherhithe Village.
See listing of this walk from 7th May 2022 at architecture.com
Deptford Creekside
Deptford Creekside was granted conservation status in 2012 and along with architectural and industrial heritage the area is also well-known for its many artists studios and galleries. Starting at Cutty Sark, this walk heads in the opposite direction to Greenwich and considers the importance of arts and culture to the urban regeneration underway. A stop to see the translucent Laban Dance Centre by Herzog and de Meuron, which won the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2003, is one of the highlights before exploring the rest of the historic Creekside conservation area.
See listing of this walk from 5 Oct 2019 at architecture.com
Golden Lane Estate and the Barbican
These two great estates were designed about ten years apart by architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon to provide much needed housing in City of London locations that had been heavily bomb damaged during the war. Now listed they continue to be exemplars from a period of utopian ideals for city living with communal gardens, open spaces and leisure facilities all carefully designed to meet the needs of residents. Starting at Barbican station the walk explores the vantage points around Golden Lane before heading up onto the Barbican Highwalks and finishing at Moorgate.
See listing for this walk from the 2nd April 2022 at architecture.com
Kings Cross and St Pancras
Explore one of London’s largest re-development zones on this architecture photo walk that focusses on the extensive regeneration of Kings Cross and St Pancras. Previously an industrial area defined by its rail landscape and dissected by the Regent’s Canal, the space has been re-imagined as a new creative quarter. With many of its historic buildings re-purposed, we will walk through the Granary Building, visit the bustling Coal Drops Yard and find views of Gasholder Park as well as exploring the charming urban landscape of St Pancras Lock and sections of the Regents Canal.
See listing of this walk from 16 Nov 2019 at architecture.com
Corridors of the City
Just over four decades ago, the skyscraper known as Tower 42 pushed through the height restriction on tall buildings in London. Long eclipsed, it now stands adjacent to a cluster of newer steel and glass high-rise office buildings within the dense, narrow lanes of the City of London. Commonly seen at a distance, this walk instead explores how these tall buildings are experienced at street level, glimpsed through gaps or by their reflections. Discover the contrasts of London’s modern architecture within its historic Square Mile on a walk where buildings break through the grain of the old city and draw down the skies to the street at every turn.
See the listing for this walk from the 11 June 2022 at architecture.com
Charterhouse and Smithfield
Discover the historic fabric of this part of London where we will see the oldest house in the City, the oldest parish Church, oldest hospital and, at Smithfield, the last of the great commercial markets of the City. There. the story now is of architectural re-invention, as market buildings are to be re-purposed as a new Museum of London. At the Charterhouse, a major refurbishment in 2017 and the addition of its own museum, has added to a narrative of change from monastery to Tudor mansion to almshouse. History may be in architectural details and materials but urban renewal and adaptation, within the City of London's Culture Mile, is the developing story of this walk.
