Some new higher detailed images of the planned London River Park have been published on the BBC News website this morning. I will presume they are all the images provided, as the River Park’s own website doesn’t have the images yet.
Like most architects, they seek to show the structure in its best light, which is understandable, if sometimes hopelessly optimistic. I am increasingly worried about The Shard looking less a slender blue crystalline tower as originally suggested and more a grey spike that it seems to be ending up as.
Back to the river. While the artists renders all look fairly similar to the exhibition I visited a few months ago, I couldn’t help but notice that all of them show the Thames at low tide.
But the river is tidal, so what will the river park look like when the tide is high – or more specifically, what will its impact on the river frontage be when it is 5 metres or more higher up?
Please forgive amateur photoshopping skills. Click on each image for larger versions.
At low-tide. Image by London River Park.
At high-tide. Image tweaked by IanVisits
I am actually a bit ambivalent about the project, mainly because I think the architecture is a bit bland, but generally support it as an idea as I think it is an interesting proposal.
One of the exciting aspects of the plan for me is how the park will rise and sink with the Thames so the view of the foreshore from the park will change twice daily. I like that, a lot. It’s a pity that the artists renders try to overlook that aspect of it.
I really do not understand the thinking behind this scheme. Is it just a vanity project?
@Kit – you are perhaps being led astray by the marketing – forget “park” and “walkway” – it is unlikely the developers envisage this as a public space – think 10,000m2 of new land right next to the City of London, and bars, restaurants and luxury boutiques.
That may be a bit cynical, but even if the pavilions don’t turn out to be commercial space they would probably be to draw people into the City on Saturdays and Sundays when it is dead and the cash registers aren’t ringing.
Nope the design and access statement has both high and low tide pictures.
Are you able to point us in the direction of such documents – as they don’t seem to be on the organisations own website.
On the bright side it appears that this will be paid for by private money and not come out of the pocket of the London taxpayer.
Being in the City of London, even if the Corporation were paying for it, there would still be no cost to the London taxpayer.