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Walking the concrete tour
Two days, nine buildings and one very patient friend. Notes on architecture designed to be seen at walking pace.
Noa Kestrel
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8 min read
The tour started as a joke thread about my favourite car park. Forty replies later, a reader offered to walk us through the city’s best concrete, one building at a time.
Day one
We began at a library whose reading room is lit entirely from above. Nobody spoke above a whisper, and the building seemed to have planned it that way.
Good buildings, like good sentences, know exactly where they want you to pause.
Day two
The last stop was a housing block from 1974, still full, still cared for. The residents had painted every front door a different colour and nobody from the council had stopped them.
Written by Noa Kestrel
Writer and designer in Lisbon. One essay every Thursday, short posts in between. Replies are open, and I read every one.
