Open House London - Greenwich

Open House, now in its 28th year, is our annual opportunity to explore some of the architecture of London with expert guidance. So this year we headed for Greenwich to learn about an unusual building next to The Dome and then for an insight into the Altazimuth observatory.

The Tide

We arrived early at North Greenwich, with time to explore the newly opened elevated park known as The Tide. It's by the same people that designed the New York High Line and is built on multiple levels between high rise buildings running from The Dome to North Greenwich Pier. It's unusual to see trees and grasses planted on an elevated walkway, a sort of land locked garden bridge, but it created a relaxing atmosphere on a very hot day.

Mermaid (2017) by Damien Hirst

There's plenty of interest with some impressive new sculptures and good views over the river, although I'm not sure I'd take up the offer of a 20 minute OPO audio meditation trail if a cold wind was blowing through.

Ravensbourne College

Our booked visit was to the strange block next to The Dome that's covered in portholes and a mosaic of coloured tiles. It's not obvious that it houses Ravensbourne College, part of the University of London (The O2 doesn't permit competing branding, so there's no sign).  We were given a personal tour by the Vice Dean of the college, starting at the roof garden and working down all 8 floors to see the variety of studios used by students of fashion, media and design.

The Altazimuth Pavilion

Next on our list was The Royal Observatory, specifically the Altazimuth Pavilion, where an astronomer related the history and what it's used for now. 60 years after astronomy moved out of Greenwich, the 4 modern astrographic telescopes were installed in this pavilion last year. Dedicated to taking photographs of the sun and the night sky, they allowed astronomy to return to London by using modern filters to overcome the light pollution.

The 'Roman Bath'

We finished the day with a quick visit to King's College on The Strand, where the 'Roman Bath' (it isn't Roman), the college chapel and Bush House were all open.

View a full set of photos.