The urgent threat of climate catastrophe has taught Phil Coffey to look at – and to photograph – the city in a completely different way.
“We never look just at one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.”
John Berger, Ways of Seeing
From my home on Old Street I am fortunate enough to enjoy an incredible view across London. I love taking photographs of landscape and architecture. I have in my mind, in some small way, separated the two. Over the past 18 months I have made images from my balcony, The Shard, The Barbican, One Blackfriars, Centre Point, Golden Lane etc. These are the things I primarily ‘saw’. Until recently. When my eyes changed.
From here I also get a glimpse of the IMAX cinema roof that I once helped detail. Bryan Avery also asked me to create images of how the undercroft that surrounds the building would feel, with his insistence on showing abundant greenery. As a 21 year old I remember thinking…’this will never work’. I recently walked from the South Bank to Waterloo; the ivy that grows above my head is now thriving and its vines are as thick as my leg. Bryan understood that architecture is a long game and when we make part of the city it is not just for now, it is for the future. The perspective seeing this ivy gave me is something I wish I had understood as a young graduate.
Climate change is now the only game in town when it comes to the cities of the future. The creation of a literal green infrastructure; the introduction of driverless electric cars; cycle routes; densification; overlooking and the proximity of buildings will need to be rethought. Should we be digging basements? Can we add an extra storey or two to get more ground plane? And yes, of course, the greening of the city.
When I look across the city now I see more clearly the trees and public spaces, the architecture that is encouraging landscape, the architecture that is orientated to the sun, the green roofs of which there are depressingly few. I see a field of green from east to west, north to south upon which the built form of London intrudes.
I look forward to helping build the future city with my new eyes. More balanced eyes between built form and the continued growth of the natural world through the city I love.
