Many brave men died to bring it here from the Galaxy of Pleasure
Regular viewers might know that I am a big fan of the annual Open House London event, which is a chance to wander around the city, poking one's nose into buildings where one isn't usually allowed to go.
I did see a few ho-hum buildings this year, but I'd recommend a visit to the Lansdowne Club, which is a private members club with a very cool, part-18th century, part-Art Deco interior. However, the best thing I saw was the very modern Wellcome Trust building, which is the home of an extremely cool sculpture by Thomas Heatherwick.
Look, it is a SHINY THING! It's made of glass beads on steel wire and it's five storeys tall (count 'em!). It's called Bleigiessen, which means "lead pouring" and is a German tradition (my sources tell me, hem hem) that involves melting bits of lead to make weird little shapes, which you then use to predict the future. (Apparently the future will feature lots of little wobbly bits of metal. Go figure.) So the sculpture has that name because it's based on the shape of a randomly-melted piece of lead. Anyway, it's a most excellent thing, and I want one. If only it wasn't three times the size of my entire flat....
I did see a few ho-hum buildings this year, but I'd recommend a visit to the Lansdowne Club, which is a private members club with a very cool, part-18th century, part-Art Deco interior. However, the best thing I saw was the very modern Wellcome Trust building, which is the home of an extremely cool sculpture by Thomas Heatherwick.
Look, it is a SHINY THING! It's made of glass beads on steel wire and it's five storeys tall (count 'em!). It's called Bleigiessen, which means "lead pouring" and is a German tradition (my sources tell me, hem hem) that involves melting bits of lead to make weird little shapes, which you then use to predict the future. (Apparently the future will feature lots of little wobbly bits of metal. Go figure.) So the sculpture has that name because it's based on the shape of a randomly-melted piece of lead. Anyway, it's a most excellent thing, and I want one. If only it wasn't three times the size of my entire flat....