It’s tricky to find photographs of this area as it is not the most revered, nor the most loved building in the town and this is where I find myself feeling some affinity towards it. Whilst I won’t attempt to argue its architectural merit, these in-town shopping centres are dying a quiet death. With the monster-mall of Bluewater situated only 5 miles away, retail sales in centres such as these have slumped. Combined with the inability to convert the carpark into anything else due to its minimal floor-to-ceiling heights, we will undoubtably see its demise.

In some lights though, I feel there is some architectural merit. The jutting cantilevers, supported by the tapered columns, and edged by a raked striated balustrade do convey a sense of dynamism; a noble attempt to hide the mundane world of Poundland and Wikinsons beneath.

This area has been very well photographed, with the geometric patterns of the roof and the juxtaposition of the old and the new leading to some incredible shots. One of the most inspiring views is from the South-East as you enter the courtyard, with  a set of wide stairways leading around the circular reading room, inviting you to climb around the exterior of the stone-clad barrel.

At the top of the restored reading room is the area that I decided to photograph. With the drum sitting tighter against the museum walls on the North-West face, the restaurant situated here is tucked away from the hustle of the courtyard at ground level, the space inbetween forming an unscalable sheer face of stone. In this privileged position, the structure of the roof becomes close enough to touch and offers a unique and different view of the Great Court.

The street has a real Dickensian charm about it, but has been majorly gentrified, with the conversion of the working warehouses on the upper floors and mostly wine bars and restaurants at ground floor. The street is a popular through-fare on the way to the Design Museum from Tower Bridge and offers an interesting alternative route, running parallel to the Thames.

Trying to capture the rich history of this place, with the new local context was quite tricky. Whilst it is easy to focus on the unique high-level walkways, that would have been full of activity in their heyday, much of the life has now moved to the lower levels. Rather than treating these as fetishistic architectural objects, I decided to show more of the modern context, treating the street as a backdrop and a curiosity, rather than the vibrant industrial area that it would have been.

The 60,000sqm office development was the last building to be constructed on the development near Tower Bridge, which includes City Hall. It also achieved a BREEAM outstanding rating, making it one of the most sustainable new speculative developments. The building is now the UK headquarters of the firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

I only got a few shots and I would have liked a bit more time, but I had to move on. Here’s a shot looking West onto Tottenham Court Road and a detail of the glazing in one of the south-facing deep reveals.

The two buildings on the sloping site form an odd pair of brick and concrete structures, with the building on the main road elevated to allow police vehicles to access underneath. The accomodation above this access is somewhat precariously perched on a series of concrete columns and beams, with rather beautiful concrete stairs flanking the structure.

Whilst I won’t immediately jump to the defense of its labelling as the ugliest building in Godalming, if not Surrey, I certainly find it more architecturally interesting than the identikit warehouses and supermarkets that are springing up around it.

The camel trail is now a pedestrian and cycle route, linking Bodmin, Wadebridge and Padstow, giving stunning views along the river. The curve of the trail at Little Petherick creek means that the bridge is visible from both directions for a considerable distance and forms a welcome landmark to walkers about to complete the route.

In this image, the perspective of the trusses shows the subtle curve of the trail, which is echoed in the water’s edge and the clouds forming above. The rowing team were using this moment at high tide to take a break, sitting where the two waterways joined. Padstow is the settlement to the right and a hill-top obelisk can be seen peeking through the members of the bridge to the left.

St David’s is the smallest city in Britain, sitting in the area of Pembrokeshire in South Wales and is the final resting place of Saint David, the country’s Patron Saint. The city itself is quite quaint, with tearooms and small shops, more reminiscent of a country town than a city which reflects its population of under 2000.

Although this is not the most perfectly-framed shot and may be somewhat of a cliche, the way the light accentuates the filigree of the painted ceiling and the organ is quite an amazing sight. The sun reflecting off of these brings life to the grey stone and almost makes the interior seem like it is lined with silver. Although I would probably shoot the interior in a different way if I were to return now, I am quite satisfied with the drama of this photograph and felt it was worthy of resurrecting on a dull October afternoon.

Sited next to the law courts, a high-level concrete plateau links the two buildings. On this level, the entrance to the Police Station is flanked by a series of vertical steel fins, offering restricted views to the interior. Sunlight plays upon their surface in an intriguing way but it is all too easy to associate their aesthetic with prison bars. Grey brick cladding laid in stretcher bond wraps around the lower accomodation levels and separates the upper bulk of the building from pedestrian level.

The most striking feature of this building is the cantilever that juts into the street. A solid mass of near-featureless concrete punctuated by plain glazed window openings that gives a monolithic appearance to the upper floors. Perched upon a series of circular columns, the building design nods towards Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye but with a more militarised stance. The addition of CCTV cameras on all faces enhance the sense of a watchtower – a theme that seems to run through much of this typology.

There was a small exhibition to announce the winners and these photographs will be published in a book. I was very pleased with this result and felt I should share the photograph that I entered and a short description.

Negotiating the streets of Plymouth in the 21^st century, the car dominates. People are cut off from each other, stranded on islands of concrete, waiting for their chance to navigate the tarmac streets. Pedestrians and vehicles caught in a race to reach their destinations, punctuated by traffic lights and balustrades.

©2011 Gareth Thyer