Architecture To Go

Sure, she can get you down sometimes – all the unrelenting rain, the head-bowed charging and barging from fellow Londoners – but then, when you take a quiet moment and a long look out across the river from Waterloo Bridge, even with all the hideous cranes and insidious grey, London sure is perty.

This year’s London Festival of Architecture has been like a slap in the face to those of us who forget this sometimes. It has reminded us to look up, and more than that, without all the infernal skyline-scarring cranes, it has provided us with a wealth of temporary architectural gems.

As the festival wraps up this weekend, like a giant treasure hunt, or a walk in a vast urban park, here’s our pick of what to catch before they disappear back into their boxes.

The Full UJ  Tour

With their unlikely proximity to the ugliness of Tottenham Court Road, the AA's two shell-like structures on Bedford Square, bring a blend of futurism and nature to this beautiful Bloomsbury spot.

Reworking the Rapunzel fairytale, let down your locks in the Covent Garden Piazza with the return of Eli Kishamato's Hairywood Tower.

Up off Farringdon Road, 'Anything but Grey ' injects a delicious explosion of neon love into the quaint gardens off Benjamin Street.

Or seek a moment of shelter from the immensity of Wren's St. Paul's Cathedral in the comforting embrace of Tonkin Liu's vivid yellow Fresh Flower.

Meanwhile, tucked on the South Bank by London Bridge, the riverside chair by Eco Machines is both an indicator of water pollution levels, and a perfect spot for a breather.

Finally, wander down past the Tate's towering graffiti to the National Theatre, and the oversized Armchair Theatre provides a perfect opportunity to take a load off and inject a little childish fantasy back into your life.

by AC