Tower Hill Environs

Horrible name, but a rather nice development which uplifts the game of tourism and is one of the best examples in London of how to handle a public place (which receives some 5m visitors per annum). Previous issues of this guide showed a Terry Farrell Po-Mo barn­like building housing, appropriately, a McDonald’s. It has been swept away by this ‘second bite at the cherry’ that is more Barcelona-correct than Inigo-Jones-barn, but how refreshing that is. There is not a lot to say about the simple elegance of this scheme which provides a restrained backdrop to the Tower, providing toilets, ticket booths, an education centre, external performance spaces (sometimes in the former moat), etc., and also complements the Foster building immediately behind (Tower Place), which provides underground parking for visitors and coaches. A not entirely dissimilar exercise by this same practice was at Denys Lasdun’s National Theatre foyer areas.