The Building Centre
In London, a friend recommended that we visit The Building Centre. (www.buildingcentre.co.uk) We took the tube to Tottenham Court Road Station and found the Centre easily at 26 Store Street. Not quite sure what to expect, we were surprised to find a smallish exhibition centre, featuring great designs, 3-D models and providing interesting information on alternative energy sources. As you enter the building you are presented with a particularly interesting 1:1500 scale model of central London, showing all recent and proposed planning submissions. For anyone who enjoys models and miniatures, this is fascinating place to visit.
House model showing energy-efficient heating and plumbing options.
Model Garden.
The Chelsea Harbour Design Centre (www.dcch.co.uk) is also a lovely place to spend a few hours – or more if you have the time to spend poring over thousands of fabrics. It’s a perfect place to visit on a rainy day with its spectacular glass domes allowing light to spill through the central atrium right down to the ground floor. The emphasis is on fabrics and soft furnishings but beautiful bathroom fittings, bespoke doors and several decor stores are also featured.
One of three linked atriums surrounded by showrooms and stores.
Loved this Nicholas Haslam trestle table.
Beautiful Nicholas Haslam Oak table.
My primary response to the Chelsea Design Centre was one of feeling quite overwhelmed by the vast array of products and options on display. It is a place that would require several return visits and probably a fairly specific focus before one could really come to grips with it. It’s worth a visit simply for the architecture of the building itself and must be absolutely spectacular when lit up at night.
There is also a good coffee shop and an excellent RIBA bookshop stocked with every architectural and design book imaginable. I could have stayed there all day.
A tiny selection of books available in the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) bookshop at the Chelsea Design Centre and part of my growing personal collection.
home-in-the-making 