An Aptly Named Owl

The spectacled owl at the London Zoo is, of course, named Elton. More pictures of zookeepers checking up on their charges at the Guardian.

Real Estate Offers: Round 2

Oasis at Elias "Resort Homes" will be completed 31 December 2015.

A few weeks ago I posted photographs of urgent and unbelievable buying opportunities that have been added to the Passengers' mailbox.  Another batch arrived last week. Don't delay; act now on these once-in-a-lifetime deals.

The above flyer (front & back) details an enticing property on the northeast coast of Singapore, quite far from the city center.  That's okay because Oasis @ Elias will be like having your home in a resort community "with the beach and nature parks nearby."  The advertised asking prices start at S$640/sq ft for a 99-year leasehold from March 2008.  That means S$700,000 (about USD 530,000/GBP 334,000) for a two-bedroom flat surrounded by existing HDB towers.  The development will not be ready until 31 December 2015; only 91 years left to enjoy your purchase.

Far East Organization wanted us to come to brunch at The Greenwich Sales Gallery

The Greenwich is advertising phase two of their low-rise condominium project in Seletar in the northern interior of Singapore.  The development by local heavyweights Far East Organization includes a nearby retail space called Greenwich V, "planned to be a chic, modern and green 'village' that will capture the vibrancy of its namesake in New York."  Perhaps they should be reminded that homosexuality remains illegal in Singapore.  FEO claims phase one "was fully sold within a few days."  They also list three-bedroom units at S$1.35 million (USD 1.02m/GBP 664,500) or S$1,174/sq ft.  Hurry up because one-bedroom units for only S4825,000 should be ready by 31 December 2018 with 90 years remaining on the leasehold.

Come to the St Regis hotel this weekend for a "Singapore Exclusive Exhibition" of Battersea Reach.

Finally, a seemingly much more affordable London property in a new south-of-the-Thames developmen called Battersea Reach on the front and Spinnaker House on the back.  None of those details matter because units start at only GBP 299,995 (SGD 628,000/USD 476,000) for a 999-year lease.  Jone Lang LaSalle do not give a completion date, but I'm sure all that information will be available to buyer who come to the St Regis hotel this weekend to buy sight unseen a pied a terre in London.

The Fourth Plinth Again | Yinka Shonibare

On 24 May 2010 Yinka Shonibare, a British artist raised in Nigeria, added his own naval-themed sculpture to the victorious monuments in Trafalgar Square.

The Mayor of London's office has commissioned another work for that one empty plinth in Trafalgar Square.  I mentioned the last work on the plinth outside the National Gallery in October,  Anthony Gormley's round-the-clock parade of ordinary people.  But last week the gently subversive Yinka Shonibare unveiled his addition to the Commonwealth's most famous square, an oversized knick-knack. His sculpture reproduces the Victory, the ship that Admiral Nelson commanded at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, except that the Nigerian-British artist has made all those majestic sails out of Dutch wax cloth, and he has built the entire miniature inside a bottle.

Yinka Shonibare's new sculpture for the so-called Fourth Plinth juxtaposed with Nelson's column in Trafalgar Square.  The portholes on the base of the work conceal fans that prevent condensation from building up in the bottle.

Nelson's Ship in a Bottle celebrates Britain's greatest naval triumph, one that opened at least a century of dominance and colonial enterprise, but Shonibare sealed the iconic ship within a polymer-glass bottle of extraordinary size, an adult could crawl through the mouth if the cork were removed.  The bottle's shape evokes a vessel for rum, a product of the slave and sugar industries in the West Indies and part of sailors' daily rations.  The ship-in-a-bottle composition overall evokes those quintessential Victorian hobbies of exactitude and possessiveness.  That European mindset which demanded that insects or stamps be captured, cataloged, and shelved paralleled European ambitions for planting a flag on every continent.

Nelson's Ship in a Bottle between the dome of the National Gallery and the spire of St Martin's-in-the-Fields.

However, those adventures brought the country into contact with a much wider world whose people now form an integral part of British society, particularly in multi-ethnic London.  The outrageous sails are of Dutch wax cloth, a type of fabric originally made in the Netherlands.  The sails with red-and-black patterns recall the batik designs of Malaysia and Indonesia that Dutch colonial merchants tried to manufacture and sell at home in patterns similar to those red anchors on white background.  Eventually, weak demand led the producers to try to hawk the surplus fabric in West Africa but as a conspicuously "European" product.  As British, and Dutch and American and Chinese, people and ships came and went around the world our totems of cultural and ethnic distinction became intermingled, and the process has not slowed down.

The front of Nelson's Ship showing the artist's initials "YSMBE" on the red bottle seal.

The setting of Trafalgar Square and its environs host a number of embassies and High Commissions from countries formerly part of the empire: South Africa, Uganda, New Zealand, Zimbabwe.  Yinka Shonibare himself is now officially part of all that confusion and the confused establishment.  He was made an MBE in 2004. The honour, which stands for Member of the Order of the British Empire, appears along with the artist's initials on the giant red seal of the bottle.  Mr. Shonibare loves to remind viewers of this accolade, and increasingly such globally minded innovators are essential for Britain's future.  As the artist says, such people "are still breathing precious winds into the sails of the United Kingdom."  Without them the accomplishments of the country would just be sealed up and collecting dust on the shelf.  

Additional photos after the jump.  Click the link at the lower left.

"Signs, Signs, Everywhere the Signs"

New York's Penn Station is as charming and welcoming as it is navigable.  This diagram shows the Long Island Railroad platforms deep underground.  Passengers connecting from LIRR to a NJ Transit or Amtrak train should head for the shaded are at the top left.  However, this map doesn't show any doorways or stairs there.  Trust me, the building doesn't feel any simpler in practice.  Image from MTA website.

The online magazine Slate began a multi-part series this week on signs.  The articles focus on how people use signage to find their way around locations.  Author Julia Turner says that the great increase in travel, mostly by air, has spurred architects and planners to think carefully about how they direct people, many of them on a tight schedule and unfamiliar with the local language, to move to their desired destinations.  In some circumstances, like driving at speed down the highway, quality signs can be a matter of life and death.  

The mobility of the post-War era explains why signage has proliferated and improved, but to me the real interest is in how these systems are bettered.  Placards on the wall represent only one example of the indicators by which we navigate.  Humans can also sense environmental zones, which is why we go to a building's high-roofed multi-story lobby to look for the elevators.  That big lobby also serves as a mental centerpoint when walking around the rest of building, whether or not it is actually centrally positioned.  Also a sign can't help if it hangs in the wrong place or contains no relevant information.  This is why hospitals have big red exterior drive-thrus for patients needing emergency treatment and no banners and arrows outside for those visiting the dentist on the twelfth floor.  For these reasons specialists in directions do not refer to their craft as "sign-making" but "wayfinding."

Slate's series does more than satisfies my appetite for visual analysis, but it chooses New York and London as two of its test cases!  Why is Penn Station so confusing?  How can anyone get from A to B in London town without an A to Zed?  The Legible London project might make it possible.  Bonus: The pilot program(me) by the Mayor's office follows the incremental testing and rollout methods advocated by Michael Blastland in Analysis last week on BBC Radio 4.  Art, design, podcasts, Anglo, American  -- trifecta!  Did I mention I am not the mathematical one in this couple?

 

One of the Legible London signs on Oxford Street.  Image from wayfinding firm Applied Information Group (AIG).

Broadsheet typos - The Fourth Plinth

Sam Martin appointed himself referee of Trafalgar Square one night, starting at 3am.

Even the venerable journalistic newspapers of Britain are showing signs of decline in the internet age. Fewer copy editors means more typographical errors in print and online. This one came from a Guardian review of, or maybe a comment on, Anthony Gormley's art installation that put ordinary Britons atop the usually empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.

So it [Gormley's One & Other project] was popular before it began, and that popularity has not diminished. It has been widely celebrated as a democratic portrait of Britain in the 12st century.

I love this error because the ambiguity provokes such enjoyable speculation. What did the author Jonathan Jones really intend to write? Was One & Other "a democratic portrait of Britain in the 12th century," an insightful, modern take on the formative decades following the Norman Conquest? Perhaps the text is correct and this refers to some system of describing an era by weight. A 12-stone (168 lbs./76.2 kg) century would be a sturdy lady but a well-proportioned chap (to the Americans: people are weighed in stone in Britain and Ireland at 14 pounds/stone). The other intention might be "in the 21st century," but this hardly seems humorous.

Gormley's installation was a provocative piece of theater and certainly a populist stroke of creativity. The article includes a worthwhile slideshow of what people choose to do when given an hour of public prominence. The newspaper also featured a review that contradicted Jones' critique.

Society of Antiquaries, London

The two galleries high above the main room can make finding books an adventure.

Today has been a work day using the library at the Society of Antiquaries. Founded in 1707, the society studies the remains of Britain's, and sometimes the wider world's, past. Its quarters off of Piccadilly and inside Burlington House, also home of the Royal Academy of Arts, are frequented by (mostly) men interested in archaeology, architectural history, genealogy, numismatic, and other arcane pursuits. The scholars may look as dusty as the books, but the atmosphere is warm, and the collection is outstanding. Many of the books date to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The stately setting and the vast expanses of shelves make the library a great place to read and explore. I took these pictures a couple years ago, but I assure you the place has not changed.

The main room of the library.

The spiral staircase in the corner leads from the first gallery up to the second.

The Society's rooms overlook the courtyard of Burlington House. In 2006 Damien Hirst's 35-foot bronze Virgin Mother welcomed visitors to the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition.

Pub Lunch in Farringdon

The Passengers took H's parents for an enjoyable outing in London last week. We wandered the streets around Farringdon Station and Smithfield Market. I'll provide more photos later of the area's architectural delights. The highlight of the day was lunch at the Fox & Anchor, an impeccably equipped gastropub off Charterhouse Square run by the boutique hoteliers responsible for the nearby Malmaison Hotel. The snug dining nooks inside the pub have been clad in dark wood and warm lights glint off the pewter beer tankards. Add oysters, homemade pork pies, and a syllabub dessert and you have a classic of British hospitality and cuisine. Also I love the historic art deco building.

The Fox & Anchor is also an inn with six rooms available.

Drinkers have long benches and all the day's papers at the bar.

Diners sit in the back rooms and contemplate the pie of the day.