Tales from the Front Line

South Kensington

by Charlie Ellingworth
on April 14, 2010 in London

So now we know. After years of talk and consultation (with whom I’m not certain) the revamp of the area round South Kensington station is now unveiled. This is probably the most visited place in London by millions of tourists drawn to the one of the greatest collections of museums in the world – so whatever they come up with is certainly public.

First the good bit. Despite moans about traffic flows, the pedestrian space is a vast improvement and instead of a traffic island, there are now wide spaces rather than narrow pavements. But that’s it.

The execution and the finish are breathtakingly awful – with an inspiration clearly drawn from the Soviet Union’s more brutalist architectural achievements. Has nobody told those charged with street-lighting that this part of London is a hundred and fifty years old and that lighting that might be appropriate for floodlighting the Watford Gap service station is not going to look or feel right? Health and Safety will be pleased anyway. What about trees or plants and flowers? Even the spaces around the bunkers of the South Bank now have trees to provide shade and greenery.

Grim, soulless, thoughtless, grey and bleak. How sad…and how typical of London’s unerring ability to achieve the bland and second rate in its modern public places.