London has as many hotel projects underway as the whole of Spain and five times as many as the second busiest city in Europe in terms of hotel development, Moscow.
Surprising, innit? This is the opening message of the latest temporary exhibition at New London Architecture, that wonderful and free gallery on Store Street.
By focusing on just one building type, Away From Home - New Hotels in London reminds us of the huge changes currently sweeping London.
Major new hotels will soon appear near Terminal 5, St Pancras, Westminster Bridge, the Olympics site, the Swiss Centre and Blackfriars Bridge. The latter, a 173 meter tower bent like a boomerang, will start construction next year and is modelled in the gallery. It will dominate the South Bank. That is, until completion of the 310 m Shard, also containing hotel space.
The exhibition itself does the usual job of succinctly rounding up the new developments, which are thematically grouped around the walls. NLA also boasts a new bookshop, and a second gallery currently displaying designs from a Kings Cross architectural charrete (a one-day design exercise for architects).
Away From Home - New Hotels in London is free and runs until 27 October. After which, it will be replaced by an exhibition about new educational buildings.
