Wednesday, 9 May 2018

leaving behind the ivy traces

On my way to get a haircut I saw this on the side of the multi-storey car park:

car park ivy traces

A creeper (probably ivy) has been peeled off the cream-painted shuttered concrete wall, leaving behind its imprint in a tracery of paint damage. Here it looks a little drunken and random, but let me give it the mid-century modern treatment:

car park ivy traces car park ivy traces
car park ivy traces car park ivy traces

There's a pattern you could wear, on a smart Zara blouse, ideal for work to evening; or make into fancy wallpaper to dress up a shabby chic restaurant project in a dilapidated shop unit.

My assumption is that I caught the time-space between the gardeners pulling the weeds and the painters repairing the damage, although it's possible that this will be left; this modernist multi-storey is marked for destruction, to be replaced by high-density flats. Here's what they look like; a sort of 80s take on modernism, with bold stripes of red and blue on the rails.

car park ivy traces

The top two decks are permanently closed now, but before that happened I did go up there once to look at the view. It's spectacular; Oxford laid out like a fancy, shiny quilt with tiered red-brick skirts around a golden hub, glittering rivers pulling lines of green through the houses.

Part of the plans for the future include community garden space, so the multistorey ends up as flats with a garden well, quad style, with spectacular views and shared green space.


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