Saturday 1 June 2013

Canary Wharf

Canary Wharf, the new(ish) financial and commercial district in the old docks of the east end of London.

The clocks in Reuters Plaza are now a well known image of London.


There are six clocks altogether, giving a total of twelve faces. And each face shows a single numeral. One to twelve- clever that!


The clocks are technically a public art work called "Six Public Clocks" - okay, so not an imaginative title for the work, but hey the clocks all work as functioning timepieces. They form a work by Konstantin Grcic, and were installed in 1999. The background in the above photo shows the entrance to Canary Wharf Underground station.



The clocks are modelled on the classic Swiss railway clock, and therefore have a certain no-nonsense efficiency about them. But I also think that they bring about a certain charm and a human scale amongst the modern tower blocks.


Canary Wharf Underground station is of course not to be confused with Canary Wharf DLR station, shown below.
 
 
The station has a clock up near the roof line, although with only one hand. An identical non-functioning clock faces it on the other side of the station. I can only assume that these were originally working clocks, but perhaps it is another artwork. 
 

Coming out of the DLR station, the exits at the four points of the compass each have their own identical clock.


These ones do appear to be working.

No comments:

Post a Comment