Linear facadism

One London Place
London, Ontario, February 2007 [Click to enlarge]

This is London's tallest building (wiki entry, developer page). It's only 30 storeys, which is the equivalent of a front porch in cities like New York. But it's our skyline's icon, and it's ours. Well, not really, because the proles who walk and ride within its shadows every day don't own it. But the fact that it looms large in our lives means it's sort of ours, our city's.

I took a walk over lunch with the specific intention of bringing back a picture of its somewhat repetitive, soulless surface. It was a brilliantly bright, frighteningly cold day when I took my walk. I had to trudge into the back parking lot to get the southern exposure, and once I carefully negotiated the badly iced-over surface, I almost froze my fingers while shooting. But in the end, I liked the lines of the building, and I liked how the lamp standard put the whole thing into a somewhat different perspective.

Sometimes, some light, some lines and a little pain can result in a neat view of a building that looms in the sunlight every day. I'm glad that I took the time on this day to remember it with a picture.

Your turn: Big, ugly, modern buildings. I hope you'll explore one near you - and share the first three words that come to mind here.