LONDON - THAMES RIVER MOVABLE FLOOD BARRIER

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Thames River water regulating barrier  is located in east part of London, Greenwich .

It is clear for averyone and has been known for many years that the famous british river is very vurnerable to flooding  and storm surges coming from the Atlantic Ocean.

The solution to that problem was to invent a sort of tame, barrier which would span accross the River and block the excessive flow of water.The construction of the structure has been mainly completed in 1982.
It consists of a seven piers resambling the shells or a form of a swiveled half  bodies of  ships embeded in a renforced concrete base, and anchored deep at the river bed.

Between the piers we can see the horizontal laid cylinders being the actual gates, and the steel, yellow painted  mechanical arms, operating the opening and closing the gates.

Althogh the construction was created almost 20 years ago, it has undoubtly a remarkably  contemporary character.

The designing company  Rendel, Palmer and Tritton used a very expressive shapes to form the overal look of the piers, and finished  it with a very shiny metal which even from a further distance distinguishes from  the scenery.

Really fascinating construction and it's unusual appearance draws many tourists' attention and is another very good reason to visit this area of  London .
For me at least as sexy as the painting  Birth of Venus by Sandro Boticelli ;-)