Material for thought

I visited Hong Kong Disneyland the other day. It was not without any resistance as the park has not the reputation of being the best of its kind. But it was only 20 minutes away by public transport and I’m a specialist in theme parks after all, so I could not resist and did my duty.

The park was definitely lacking a level of details in the execution of the themed areas. The budget was too tight it seems. It was nowhere more apparent than on Main Street USA and the Disney castle. The buildings were smaller than in other Disney parks and didn’t have enough details; some looked as cheap as in second class parks.

I visited the observation deck of the Shanghai World Financial centre while I was in Shanghai for the World Expo. I was not so impressed by the view from the 100^th floor, I have already seen many similar views in my life. I was much more interested by their lift. They built around the lift a kind of theme park queuing experience between the 2001 Space Odyssey and the Omni Company from Robocop.

A model of London

The New London Architecture, at the Building centre, is an initiative that seeks to highlight the level of development either planned or currently underway in London.  ”Digital Cities, London’s future” was their latest exhibition. It highlights some of the resources and technologies which designers can use in the development of the city and explores areas of debate that arise alongside the opportunities of this new digital world.

The exhibition was packed with fascinating glimpses of the future.