It’s official. Architecture is the new rock ‘n’ roll. Whereas guitar heroes of the past straddled the stage, thrusting their Fender Stratocasters into mid-air like steel-wired fertility symbols, nowadays it’s architects bestriding our big cities like polo-necked colossi and littering them with glimmering glass tributes to their artistic potency.
The likes of Norman Foster and Richard Rogers have transformed the London skyline in recent decades, and the London Festival of Architecture (June 20-July 20) celebrates their influence as well as looking at some of the city’s hidden gems.
The festival is organised around five hubs that are different in style - Kensington, Canary Wharf, Bloomsbury, the South Bank and the City of London - exploring indoor and outdoor spaces through a mixture of tours, installations, music and dance. While some of the exhibits verge on the indecipherable others, such as the bike tours taking in London’s squares and gardens, are accessible to anyone. Prices range from free to about pound;25.
www.lfa2008.org.
