Brent Cross redevelopment: New staircase up from the bus station

"The east London-based architects have made £45 million worth of architecture that does not flaunt its contemporariness, but tries to fit in with the decorative scheme and planning logic of a historic building [built in the second Harold Wilsonian period, 1976].

"... Like many of London’s greatest cultural institutions (like the V&A, the Science Museum, the Royal Albert Hall [and the North Finchley Arts Depot]), it was designed ... to be over the top in its classical imagery, but not close enough to benefit from the dawning modernity that gave architecture a new direction.

Caruso St John’s additions here take that eclectic classicism seriously. The new rotunda staircase, linking the ground floor to a large series of basement spaces, is made in a repeating terrazzo pattern that references Op Art, but in the end is more Art Deco than anything else. New chandeliers continue the stripped-back Deco theme [particularly at the 326 bus stop]."

(Click on image.)