I Saw Three Ships...

...well, three buildings that are supposed to look like smokestacks at least. Aaron and I have been going into UEL to work in the library pretty often recently and I finally took some pictures today. The architecture looks impressive and plays on the campus' riverside location and the Docklands industrial past by giving off and industrial feel and drawing from ships for inspiration. The three smokestack buildings above are actually dorms - round, inefficiently designed dorms that are smack in the middle of campus. They sure look neat though.

Here's an actual London airport, not like the bastard Heathrow or Gatwick that aren't really located in London at all. The airport is directly across from UEL's campus, but this picture is taken from the DLR.

This is the view down from where I sit in the library, grafting away...

And the view diagonal from my seat. Seems a strange layout for a library - huh?


Remember how I said the architects have played on the riverside location? This is the view from the river side of the library. They did make an impressive illusion - it looks like you're on the first deck of a massive boat when you look out the window. Very serene.

It is a library though and as cool as the structure is, it's horribly impractical. The sound on each level of the library carries throughout the building and while the windows bring in a lot of light, I don't think they open and there's no air conditioning. Since there aren't many students around right now, it's definitely more quiet than our flat.

The most important building in the nautico-industrial themed campus - we get our coffee there.
I think that the library would be a neat place for some parkour - take a look at the video to see what I mean.