What the hell is that monstrosity in Melbourne?

The BBQ Pit
41

I’d only driven past it until last weekend, when mrs hawthorne and I popped in to see the Nolan exhibition (and to drink chinotto in the imaginatively named Chinotto Cafe). I hadn’t liked what I’d seen, and like Thylacine, blamed 'Kn Ett.

I like it a lot more now. It’s still a bit too busy for my taste - I think if you’re going to use 10 girders to do something that could be done with 2, you should at least pretend that it’s more than decoration. And I don’t like the pinky-beige featured in the panels. But I do like the way they’ve textured and shaped the open spaces. And the main staircase is great.

Even without shards, it beats the city square.

42

The original covering of the Aerial Pizzabox was considerably different, yellow with red stripes joining the windows, and IMHO looked a lot better–but apparently the cladding was some European stuff that they couldn’t get approved in Canada. The current back-and-white isn’t nearly as good looking.

Oh, and the Leaning Tower is part of Olympic Stadium in Montréal. Just another reason why Montréal is cool.