mousquet – Even though I believe London is projected to have an extra million people compared to New York by the end of the 2020’s, I seriously doubt that a skyline equivalent to that of Manhattan could emerge, nor would it be warranted.
Anything taller than the Shard is unlikely to materialise due to the limits imposed by the Civil Aviation Authority on the Heathrow and City airport flight corridors. The numerous protected sight lines would limit the ability to develop a continuous skyline, and it is unlikely wholesale destruction of historic parts of the city (and what give its identity) will curry favour from many parties. Central London’s morphology also developed along wildly different lines due to the distribution of the 13 train termini which created work environments over a much wider area compared to Manhattan where they are more intensely focused in Midtown and Downturn due to the intensification of the infrastructure there.
Image sourced from The Economist: http://www.economist.com/news/britai...ut-ascent-city Further detail in article
Until recently, the three tallest towers in London weren’t even located in Central London; they were in Canary Wharf, and the current tallest (the Shard) isn’t even located in the traditional core of the Square Mile or the West End. Which probably gives indication as to how skyscraper development in London will progress: rather erratically and all over the place.
Whilst it is pretty interesting seeing an ever increasing number of skyscraper projects emerge in London, I am particularly curious about the mega redevelopment projects such as Greenwich Peninsula (below with Canary Wharf in the background) which will be home to
25 x 100m+ towers. To put that figure into context, prior to the new millennium, there were only 19 towers over 100m across all of London.
Image sourced by SE9 on skyscrapercity: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...postcount=1088
1 Undershaft | 295m | Pre-Planning
Considering this is proposed to become the second tallest tower in London, I believe it deserves a few more pictures and a bit more detail:
- The new building (295m, 73 floors) will replace the current 118m St Helen’s building (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._He...8skyscraper%29).
- The lift core will be located on the external western flank and will be obscured by 22 Bishopsgate. It will also mirror the external lift core of the neighbouring 122 Leadenhall (Cheesegrater).
- The brown metallic beams are CorTen.
- The horizontal louvers will be white giving a cooler appearance from the street, whilst the top floors will use colour-changing paint.
- The current windswept plaza will be excavated to create an accessible basement for new shops and restaurants.
- The basement will also house capacity for 1,500 bikes.
- The ground floor ‘void’ opens up the base of the building to the public and mimics a similar feature to that of the Cheesegrater.
- There will be a free double-height public observation level at the top of the tower.
- Architect is Eric Parry.
Image sourced by SE9 on skyscrapercity: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...&postcount=483
Image sourced by SE9 on skyscrapercity: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...&postcount=483
Image sourced by SE9 on skyscrapercity: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...&postcount=483
Image sourced by SE9 on skyscrapercity: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...&postcount=483