Interactive: 'A tortured heap of towers': the London skyline of tomorrow

[M II A II R II K]

'A tortured heap of towers': the London skyline of tomorrow


11 December 2015

By Oliver Wainwright and Monica Ulmanu

Read More: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddes...ow-interactive

The last piece in the jigsaw” is how architect Eric Parry described his design for 1 Undershaft, the tallest building in the City of London, when it was unveiled this week. It will crown the planned “cluster” of towers, standing right between the Cheesegrater and the Gherkin. But it’s far from the final piece – in fact, it’s only the beginning of another building boom.

In an anonymous basement a few streets from the 1 Undershaft site stands a chessboard showing the City of London’s future skyline. The Perspex peaks cluttering this planning office model glow greenish-grey, like a malevolent crystal formation from the planet Krypton. Dreamed up during the banking bubble, most of these novelty chess pieces were stopped dead by the recession. But now, with the global property investment industry booming and the City’s vacancy rates at their lowest for 15 years, the tabletop fantasy is fast becoming reality.

North of the Gherkin, a tower nicknamed the Can of Ham for its odd tubby form is currently being built. Designed seven years ago by Foggo Associates, the 24-storey spam tin has been revived by one of the world’s biggest pension funds, TIAA-CREF. Meanwhile, cranes are conjuring the 38-storey Scalpel – a stunted cousin of the Shard by US architects Kohn Pederson Fox. “The Skyline Refined” trumpets its construction hoarding, showing the glass blade reaching to the skies, as if poised to slice up its neighbours.

Which might not be a bad thing, given what’s coming next door. The gargantuan staggered slabs of Make’s 40 Leadenhall Street, for Henderson Global Investors, will form a building more than twice the Scalpel’s bulk. Dubbed Gotham City, for the sense of dystopian gloom it will cast over all who see it, it has the unfortunate quality of being a groundscraper and a skyscraper at the same time – and resembling a corpulent grey heap.

Some of the biggest pieces are still missing from the chessboard, as the planning office struggles to keep up with what developers are throwing at it. 22 Bishopsgate was recently granted permission on the site of the ill-fated Pinnacle, where a seven-storey concrete stump has stood since construction stalled in 2008 – a mocking relic of the last banking bubble. It will combine the total internal area of the Cheesegrater and the Walkie-Talkie inside one slab that’s 80m-wide and 278m high – enough space for 12,000 people.

22 Bishopsgate was fiercely opposed by the neighbouring boroughs of Islington and Tower Hamlets, along with Royal Parks and Historic Royal Palaces, who feared its “broad-shouldered” profile would create a “solid backdrop” to the Tower of London, compared to the previous scheme’s tapered peak. Even Heathrow, 15 miles away, complained that its heft would interfere with radar coverage. Permission was granted nonetheless.

The shift from the spiralling helter-skelter of the Pinnacle to this squarer, fatter wodge not only reflects the desire of the project’s new backer, Axa Real Estate, to squeeze 30% more volume out of the £300m they paid for the site, but also reveals the changing priorities of the City under its new director of design. “The new scheme follows our guidance for sleek simplicity, in contrast to some of the more gimmicky buildings we’ve had recently,” says Gwyn Richards, who was appointed head of design at the City of London’s planning team last year following the departure of Peter Rees. “We’re taking a more disciplined approach now: no building in the cluster should be trying to shout down its neighbour.”

Richards is frank. He describes the current City skyline as an “incoherent riot”, particularly when seen from cherished vantage points such as Westminster Bridge. “It would be fair to say that, over time, we fumbled into the cluster,” he adds. “Now it’s time for clarity on the skyline.”

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[King Kill 'em]

London's skyline is amazing. It's been able to create something so interesting with very few towers thanks to the fact they are all so architectually creative. I don't see how anyone could describe it as an "incoherent riot". Many other cities would be thrilled to have a skyline like London's.