A few weeks ago, I decided to go off to Docklands for a wander. Oh, no, hang on: I decided to go to Woolwich to walk through their Thames Foot Tunnel as I've done the Greenwich one a few times (no photos as the entrances to both have various scaffolding and works going on, and the insides basically look...the same).
Of course, when you walk through a tunnel you end up in a different place to where you started, so I ended up at King George V Dock and went on the DLR to Pontoon Dock, which is where the Thames Barrier Park is (that'll be another entry). Eventually, I made my long and meandering way round to Royal Victoria Docks. I was going to go on the cable cars to North Greenwich - this wasn't actually planned, I didn't realise until I got to RVD that's where it was...) but it was too windy. Another time...
Next to the cable car station (is that the word? Hmmmm) was a building with a lot of sharp points called The Crystal, and because the cable car was denied to me and I couldn't be bothered to queue for however long it might be before it reopened (people were waiting there! Why? It was a very windy day!) I decided to pop in to find out what the pointy thing was.
The Crystal is a 'sustainable cities initiative' by Siemens, a sustainably-run building with information and interactive displays and game things designed to look at the possible future of cities and how they can become less environmentally...iffy.
When you go in, they give you a swipe card to start all the information display thingmabobs (I failed to take a picture), which is good for small children running around the place, hahaha. I think it's probably most appealing if you a) love cities (I do), b) are interested in sustainability (I am) and/or c) are a massive hippy (I am).
It's an interesting space with plenty of electronic things to look at and press, although I would say younger children (say below 8) might get bored quite quickly - although there are things to play with, if you don't get the context behind them you'll just be looking at some blinking lights. To be honest, even if you do get the context there are still a lot of blinking lights:
The information boards and games are really interesting, and although it can be slightly depressing when you consider how little most people are prepared to do (look, I live in a place where people can't tell the difference between normal and recycling bins...), it can also be encouraging as a lot of the changes that need to be made are relatively simple and just require a bit of thought.
A lot of thought and design has obviously gone into the building and the displays, but I think it might get slightly missed being all the way out in Royal Victoria Docks. If you are interested in the future of cities and sustainability, it's worth a visit. And depending on the weather you might get a chance to go on the cable cars as well :).
Crystal website: http://www.thecrystal.org/_html/index.html
