LANDMARK CASES

Look beyond the London cityscape’s most famous skyscrapers with our pick of the alternative gems championed in new book ‘An Opinionated Guide to London Architecture’

‘Buildings are stories,’ states Rory Olcayto, chief executive of Open House London, in the foreword to this new essential guide to the capital’s many architectural wonders. We could not agree more – every one of the landmarks selected by authors Sujata Burman and Rosa Bertoli for An Opinionated Guide to London Architecture eloquently tells a different chapter of the city’s diverse narrative. The superstars of the London skyline are, of course, included – think The Shard, Tate Modern, St Paul’s Cathedral – but it is the more obscure delights that will encourage visitors and locals to see it in a new light. Take, for instance, M by Montcalm, an optical illusion of a skyscraper in Shoreditch (see previous page) or Isokon Flats, Hampstead’s modernist refuge for artists, writers and, as rumours suggest, even spies in the 1940s. Outside the centre, there’s the postmodernist totems that decorate Isle of Dogs Pumping Station and the restrained marriage of Islamic and Western aesthetics that characterises the Ismaili Centre in South Kensington. With stunning photography by Taran Wilkhu throughout, this small guide will inspire big adventures. £9.95, out now (hoxtonminipress.com).

EVERY ONE OF THE LANDMARKS SELECTED ELOQUENTLY TELLS A DIFFERENT CHAPTER OF LONDON’S DIVERSE NARRATIVE

Located on City Road, right in the heart of the capital, The M by Montcalm building by Squire & Partners architects is a work of visual trickery inspired by the Op Art-style of British artist Bridget Riley

Deliberately understated – a stipulation by the Aga Khan, the religious leader of Isma’ilism – the geometric detailing in South Kensington’s Ismaili Centre still manages to make an impression

The façade of Isokon Flats is instantly recognisable beside Hampstead’s Georgian buildings. Previous residents include Bauhaus alumni Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, and author Agatha Christie

Built in the 1980s, the Isle of Dogs Pumping Station is one of the most unlikely pops of playful postmodern colour in the capital