new stadium plans

Is it alright for me to blog about football if I pretend that I'm blogging about architecture?

Actually, I think I am blogging about architecture. The football back pages are buzzing at the moment with the news that my club, Tottenham Hotspur, have announced plans for a new stadium, which is being built on the existing site at White Hart Lane. What makes that interesting to non-Spurs fans, I think, is that the plans for how they'll do it are really rather interesting. The intention is to start building the new ground directly behind the current stadium, and progress as far as they can with it before demolishing the current ground and moving the pitch up into the new building. At no point during the process will the capacity drop below it's current maximum (36,000) but at the end the club will have a shiny new ground with room for 60,000 people. The pictures below - which are the real reason for the post - demonstrate the process. Kind of fascinating, and oddly pretty too.

Here's an explanation of the process:

PHASE ONE: New stadium build commences to the north of the existing ground. The stadium remains in use at full capacity.

PHASE TWO: Out of season, the North Stand of the existing stadium is demolished and the new pitch is laid.

PHASE THREE: The partially-completed new stadium is in use for one season. The remainder of the existing stadium is demolished.

PHASE FOUR: Out of season, the remainder of the new stadium is completed, ready for the start of the following season.

Just hope the new stadium doesn't turn into an anonymous, atmosphere-free dome like the Emirates. Unfortunately, looking at the drawings, it looks very similar.

edwyn collins' bird drawings

The story of the most recent few years of Edwyn Collins’ life is, despite being fairly traumatic, ultimately a cheering tale – for although his slow recovery from a terribly serious stroke in 2005 has been painful and limited, he has overcome huge odds to regain power over his life and his art, and is as a consequence once more playing live, writing songs, singing and performing. But the process of healing began not with a return to the studio but with the pain-staking process of learning to read again, and learning how to draw with his left hand, having lost the use of his right. Now, a couple of years on, Edwyn is once more full of hope and confident about the future – which is wonderful stuff. In the Guardian today, he writes:

"I drew my first bird, a widgeon. It's quite crude, but I was pleased with the result. Each day I drew at least one bird. I was tired back then, but my stamina has grown. I could see my progress with each bird. Up, up, up. It's encouraging. (…) When I draw there is no interference. Since my stroke, I am interfered with quite a lot. And this is not to my taste, although I have been very cooperative. But when I draw, I am in charge; I don't have a therapist or a wife bossing me about. I'm left to my own devices, in a world of my own. Drawing was the first skill to come back to me, so it meant the world. If I can draw, what else can I do? It gave me back my confidence in myself. And my dignity."

Edwyn Collins: British Birdlife, a collection of his bird drawings, is showing at the Smithfield Gallery, London EC1, until Saturday. Some samples below.

gemma correll

Really in love with the drawings on this blog; they're incredibly cute and appealing. The author, Gemma Correll, is an illustator based in Norwich. According to her profile, her interests are "mexico, circus freaks, screen prints, cats, kittens, kitsch, language, flamenco dancers and vintage adverts".

Here's one of her drawings, please do go and have a look at some of her others, they're really ace:

And you can buy a t-shirt she's designed here. I'm going to order one.

ffffound.com

I'm totally addicted to Ffffound.com, a web service that allows people to save and share their favourite images from the web; it's full of utterly lovely visuals. Here are a few examples:

It's in closed beta at the moment, and I don't have an invite. Hmph. Probably cause they know the whole thing will work beautifully 'til they let the likes of me join in the fun...