Today marks just 3 years until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games; London 2012. I have been following the huge project since 2002 when it wasn’t even certain that we would bid for the games or not. London surprised everyone by beating Paris to the grand prize in July 2005 only for our celebrations to be cut short the following day by the terrorist bombs.

Fast forward to today and it is amazing how the stadium structure is already virtually completed, as you can see in the picture, backed up by an amazing sporting performance in Beijing. Surely one of the best weeks the country has experienced for a long time – newspaper headlines were positive for a change! “The Great Haul of China!”

The Olympics in London will be spectacular - not withstanding any sporting success – the city is at the forefront of Global culture and arts, and as proved by the 2012 branding, isn’t afraid to innovate and surprise. I wouldn’t have it any other way! These games will be for the world, set in it’s greatest city; backed by 2000 years of history (even on the Olympic Park site) and a host who does things in its own unique way with nothing to prove but to have fun.

Recently I discovered some old photographs of Baker Street Station from the 1920s. These were taken before the grand building of today was built above the Metropolitan line platforms; replacing a number of shops, houses and the beautiful Leslie Green entrance around the corner.

The photo above shows the original station on Marylebone Road (facing towards Euston). This is the same view today from Google Street View. (Note that the front wall remains complete with the semi-circular windows that originally allowed light to flood into the brick-arched Circle Line platforms below.)

This is from another angle (towards Paddington). On the far left, behind the man, is 'Marylebone Circus'; the name for the crossing of Marylebone Road and Baker Street. Sadly this  name has been forgotten about today.
If you had taken the right on the Circus onto Upper Baker Street you would have seen the 'newer' part of the station. The photo below shows the then 20 year old Leslie Green surface building for the new Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (today the Bakerloo line).

Street View. Shortly after this photo was taken the building was demolished and replaced by the large Chiltern Court that remains today (the 20’s promotional image is shown below).

  

There are currently plans being worked up to improve the access to the station. This includes incorporating a dingy pedestrian subway into a new exterior Underground entrance. It was due to start in summer 2009, but the Credit Crunch has delayed it until after the Olympics.

Looks a bit half-hearted in my opinion…

I’ve always felt that the Science Museum in South Kensington was a little lost cousin compared to the Natural History Museum and the V&A. This, due to being largely hidden away and also having a lack of landmark entrance to pull people in from the street.

This is all set to change by the look of some radical new proposals released this week to give the museum’s facade an attention seeking architectural ‘blob’. Perhaps more importantly though, the whole of Exhibition Road is being pedestrianised and it looks like the ground floor will be opened up with a line a doors onto the street. I bet this would increase foot-fall into the museum significantly by itself.

As part of a wider regeneration of the Exhibition Road revitalisation as the ‘cultural heartland of London’, the Science Museum will undertake a redevelopment designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects which incorporates a new facade, new galleries, lifts and SkySpace - a cavernous rooftop space and 'destination cafe' dedicated to cosmology.

The ‘Sky Space’ (large blue thing on bottom left image, gold on bottom right) looks very interesting too and will probably be an impressive room to stand in if you can find it through the museum’s vast corridors. Although it won’t all be finished for at least 5 years, it looks like the road will be completed in time for the Olympics.

 

See the current facade on Google Street View.
Read more about the project here.