The Florey Building
(scroll down to read about this thing)What can be said about Florey? How about the following:
- It was built in the late 1960's, having been designed by some madcap architect.
- The design is supposed to be based on that of a Roman Ampitheatre.
- It is built round in a huge semi-circle. The picture shows just one end, the other end would stretch right round behind where this picture was taken.
- The semi-circular design means that you can see into a lot of other peoples rooms (And they can see into yours).
- The design has taken form over function, as there is a terrible amount of wasted space.
- The rooms range from the very small to the very large ones which effectively have two floors to them.
- Everyone pays the same accomodation fee.
There are no carpets throughout the entire building, so a door being slammed on the first floor can be heard on the third floor round the other side of the buliding. - One wall in each room is entirely windows (which do not open), and there are no curtains, only faulty blinds. This means that if you have a south facing window (like I did) your room becomes a greenhouse in summer.
- It was built on a river bank, and is slowly but surely sliding down the bank into the river.
- It should be condemned because of the above, but it will become a listed building if it is condemned (something to do with it being "an architectural masterpiece"), so it cannot be knocked down either way.
- There is an ugly legal battle going on over the whole thing.
- The architect responsibe killed himself, shortly after a building he designed at St. Andrews (which was supposed to resemble two ships colliding) began to sink in the middle under its own weight and was condemned.
No, its a close-up of the south-facing windows of Florey!
Mmmmmm, those rooms must be toasty warm in summer...
