Cracks in buildings

Terrazzo stairway, Wagamama, Kensington High Street, South Kensington.

Cracks in buildings

M6 motorway over River Eden, Cumbria.

Not what there used to be

Disused fireplace, waiting room at Wetheral station, Cumbria.

Weathered materials

Wichert at Haddenham.

This is not a fossil

Cat's paw print in terrazzo floor of a 1930's apartment block.

Clean - Not clean

This is not graffiti

On brick gate pier, Ham House, Ham.

Cracks in buildings

St Matthias Church, Richmond. Spandrel over north door.

Erosion

Hard mortar and soft stone. The mortar is always going to win.

Bomb damage II

South entrance to Tate Britain, London on Atterbury Street.

Eleanor Antin

100 boots, Eleanor Antin and Google Earth

Just built

This little shed, for the gardeners at Hope Park in Keswick, Cumbria is just a mixture of odd bits, that have been altered over time, with little additions, perhaps badly done, certainly not designed but I find it really beautiful.  Even the felt shingles, which are surely just a cheap replacement for natural slates look beautiful here.

Exposure

The effect of weather on even a hard and durable material like concrete. This is part of the Hayward Gallery on London's South Bank.  The bottom photo showing the original shutter finished concrete, left natural and undecorated. The top shows the south side of the same column, all the texture has gone leaving only the edge of the shuttering boards just visible.

Metal stitch repairs to cast iron grating over heating ducts in the Palm House at Kew Gardens.

Lime pointing

Last week I ran a two day lime training event organised by the NECT HSI. After a lecturing about lime mortars, slaking some putty, mixing several mortars with different sands, having a good look at the existing pointing on the barns at Low Luckens, we eventually got our hands dirty and did this.

From left to right; raked out, pointed and knocked back about four hours later.

Common furniture beetle - Anobium punctatum

Boulevard De Raspail

 Man Ray, 1930.

Google Earth, 2010.

Rietdale Chair

Rietdale Chair by Harvey Wilkinson. More info here; Grizedale Arts.

Graffiti No.2

On a backstreet in Nelson, Lancashire.  The painted wickets have many layers from decades of regular repainting.

V&A

 Acknowledging historic damage can be an important part of social history...

...but thoughtless temporary fixings are not.