Learning from London's rich built heritage

A seven storey office building next to a three storey church with a 41 storey office tower behind. Is seven storeys too tall adjacent to otherwise smaller listed buildings in London in 2013?

A ninety years old, nine storey residential building opposite one of London's busiest main line stations. Is nine storeys too tall adjacent to tube stations in London in 2013?

A eighty years old, seven storey office building with strong vertical elements. Can 21st century facades have strong vertical elements, without copying the past?   

Strong colours on an otherwise ordinary mix-used brick building in central London. Can strong colours add interest to modern glass, brick, stone, steel and concrete buildings? 

A eighty years old, ten storey residential building along a high street in suburban west London. Is ten storeys too tall in suburban London in 2013?  

A seventy years old, thirteen storey office building in west London. Is thirteen storeys too tall for 21st century London?

A nine storey corner office building in central London. Is three additional storeys on selected corner buildings too tall for inner London? 

Four storey residential buildings, with double mansard roofs in west London. Can retrofitting double mansard roofs on commercial and residential buildings add to the housing supply of 21st century London? 

Some glazed-in balconies on the upper floors of a new eight storey residential building. Can retrofitting glazed-in balconies add floor space and increase the sustainability of public and private post-war housing in London?

An unsymmetrical facade element in an already richly detailed facade. Can small facade variations add to the richness of 21st century buildings in London?

A rather terrifying 1970s Whitehall office building with maybe some interesting (if somewhat difficult to notice) facade qualities. However, just repeating the same facade element over and over again and the lack of trees along the pavement adds little to the public realm of the area.    

Large four storet houses along the Thames in west London. Is four storey residential buildings too tall for 21st century suburban London?

A seventy years old, seven storey residential building on top of a tube station in west London. How a horizontally orientated facade can work, if vertically elements are also strongly present. 

A four storey commercial building in a 2-3 storey residential street in south London. Is such a deviation of building heights unthinkable in 21st century suburban London? 

A rather simple but stunning station entrance, where curves, light and height is used to great effect in west London, without (necessarily) increasing the footprint of the building.

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Who forgot to order more of these benches? The present contemporary wooden benches are nice, but hey, hardly memorable.

Who replaced this stunning blue and red arrow with the present very dull black and yellow 'Way out' sign?

Or this blue sign with white capital letters and white arrow?

Or as it could be with white arrow pointing left, right, up or down?

Waiting for the train home in the evening in mid July at platform 1 at the new Blackfriars Thameslink station, looking east towards Tate Modern, the Shard, Tower Brige and the Cheesegrater, the newest awkward looking office tower in the City, only a 10 mins train journey southwards to Denmark Hill station (past Elephant & Castle and close to Camberwell, Peckham, Brixton and Dulwich).

Waiting for the train home in the evening in mid July at the overbridge at Wandsworth Road Overground station looking north towards Battersea, only a 10 mins train journey eastwards to Denmark Hill station (past Clapham North, Brixton and Loughborough Junction).