Gabion: Retained Writing on Architecture
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When dereliction is better: despite Rogers, Farrell and Grimshaw, West London reinvents itself as a pale shadow of Berlin.

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As I walked around the site and crossed over one of the artists' bridges (rather a good one, by Turner Prize nominees Langlands and Bell, clearly designed as an ironic take on glass-walled corporate architecture) I found a survivor. Excellent: a row of good, plain canalside workshops with original granite-paved alleyway and brick wall behind, right where the canal turns and broadens into the basin. A natural for waterside restaurants or whatever. Something original to counterbalance the brand-new fake permanently-moored barges being installed here. But no. This modest piece of industrial heritage (Illustrations) is also doomed to demolition, since it stands in the way of Network Rail's plans to develop that side of Paddington Station and open it up to the water. The designs are by Sir Nicholas Grimshaw's practice. They're not bad. It's certainly a good idea to open up the side of the station to the water. But - oh, never mind.

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