The building at 30 St Mary Axe in the city, the financial heart of London, is a 40-storey skyscraper. Building formerly known as Swiss Re, referring to its previous owner, also known as "the Gherkin." It is 180 meters high, which places him as the second tallest building in the city of London, after Tower 42, and the sixth highest in the greater London area.
The building was designed by Norman Foster, his former partner Ken Shuttleworth2 and engineers Arup. It was built by the Swedish company Skanska between 2001 and 2003.3 It officially opened on May 25, 2004
The building is on the former site of the headquarters of the Baltic Exchange, an exchange company and services in the shipping industry. It was a listed building (listed building - grade II) completed in 1903. Had been designed by Smith & Wimble, according to the principles of architecture victoriana.5 The April 10, 1992, a day after the reelection of John Major as Prime Minister, the provisional IRA bomb detonated nearby, damaging the Baltic Exchange building and other nearby buildings. The blast killed three people, injured 91 and caused other extensive damage.
The Inglés Heritage (the government council for the protection of historical heritage), the government of the city and the Corporation of London insisted that any reconstruction should retain the old facade of the building to St. Mary Axe. The company owner, unable to deal with reconstruction, the site sold the company Trafalgar House in 1994 and moved to a nearby building. Trafalgar House instructed the GMW architectural firm to study possible strategies for development of the site, respecting the old building. They proposed a rectangular building surrounding the ancient site.
later turned out that the damage was more severe than originally thought, so that the authorities gave up demanding a full restoration, despite the objections of conservationists advocating architectural reconstruction.
Most of the structures that remained standing were carefully removed, the interior of Exchange Hall and the facade were preserved and sealed. The remains of the building and not are protected, because the building officially no longer exists, so that the remains have been sold to private collectors and museos.5 The windows, for example, have been restored and displayed at the Maritime Museum Much Nacional.9 the remains were transferred in 2007 to Tallinn (Estonia), which provides for the reconstruction of the building
The planning process
Once discarded the option of rebuilding the old building, and either partially or totally opened the options to build a new one, without constraints conservationists. In addition the site had certain advantages: it was outside central area of \u200b\u200bconservation, not in the path of the sight lines (the lines connecting certain visual protected sites around London with the Cathedral of St. Paul) and in the vicinity and there were several tall buildings, as Tower 42, the skyscrapers of 99 Bishopsgate, or Lloyd's building.
Moreover, at this time, the City of London remained stiff competition from Canary Wharf to attract businesses. The Canary Wharf business complex (county of Tower Hamlet), created in mid-1980, offered a lot of office space in modern buildings, at more competitive prices. At Canary Wharf are the 3 tallest buildings in the United Kingdom. In contrast, regulations in central London were an inconvenience for the implementation of major corporate headquarters. Large companies abandoned their headquarters in the city to move to Canary Wharf, as banks Credit Suisse First Boston, Morgan Stanley and Barclays. The dispute had with big business moves in both directions.
Trafalgar House in 1996 announced plans to build the Millennium Tower, a massive skyscraper designed by Norman Foster, which if built would have been the highest in Europa.15 It was a building of 86 floors and 386 m high, with more than 150,000 square feet of office space, with a public viewpoint located at 305 m altura.16 This project was abandoned because of opposition from Inglés Heritage and Civil Aviation Authority, claiming that such a tall tower posed a danger to air navigation. After that failure, the site was sold to Swiss Re, which began work on the project of a lower tower height, also with Foster.
The final draft was approved in 2000 by the Corporation of London, supported by Mayor Ken Livingstone and Inglés Heritage.18 Such permission was subject to approval by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and Regiones.19 On August 23, 2000, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, as well as Secretary for the Environment, granted the license to build the new building. Baltic Exchange opposed the decision, arguing that an issue of such historical and environmental importance should be discussed through a referendum.
The Swiss Re decided the desire of the authorities to maintain the traditional style of London with its relatively narrow streets. The mass of Swiss Re was not too impressive. Like many buildings in the area, it is very difficult to realize the existence of the tower if you are not close, but not directly under it. This schedule of norms and aims to create a common visual identity for the city: for example, building codes in New York has had an enormous impact on the city compared to other more conservative standards, such as London and Paris.
The tower under construction.
The
building was built by Skanska, completed in 2004 and inaugurated on April 28, 2004.
The building uses energy savings that can use half the energy of a similar tower typically consume a large extent by diagrid type structure. Gaps in each floor create six shafts that serve as a natural ventilation system for the entire building if the firewall reuiere all sixth floor to interrupt the "chimney." The shafts create a giant IG effect of double effect: the area is channeled through two layers of glass and isolates the area of \u200b\u200bthe offices inside.
The architects limited the double glazing in residential houses to avoid the inefficient convection heat, but Swiss Re exploited this effect. The axes draw the hot air of the building during the summer and warm the building in the winter using passive solar heating. On the other hand also allow sunlight to pass through the building, making the workplace more enjoyable, and lower lighting costs.
Most tall buildings get their lateral stability from a central structure or mast of a perimeter, or a combination of both. Typically, this means they are designed to withstand high winds, but they are too flexible to ensure passenger comfort. The main method for controlling the deflection of the wind and make the structure more stable and increase the weight of ballast assets. With the help of structural engineers Arup, Swiss Re has developed a triangular perimeter structure building to rigid enough without any additional reinforcements.
Despite its curvilinear shape, only one piece of curved glass in edificio.21
At the top level of the building (floor 40), is a bar for tenants and guests offering a 360 ° view of London. The restaurant works on the floor 39, and there are private rooms where you can dine on the floor 38.
While most of the buildings have the bulky equipment of the elevator on the roof of the building, this was not possible to use the Gherkin since a bar that had been planned for the floor 40. The architects solved to reach the elevator to floor 34, and then placed a marble staircase and a lift lighter to allow access for people with disabilities that lead the visitor to the bar of the dome.
The building is visible from afar, for example, from the north can be seen from the M11 about 20 miles while the west can be seen from the statue of George III at Windsor Great Park.
The base of the building.
After
The first owner of the building was the reinsurance company Swiss Re, which promoted the construction of the building to house its headquarters operations in the United Kingdom. For this reason the building was known for some time as Swiss Re Tower
In one operation, the building was sold in 2007 to the German group IVG Immobilien, the amount of 630 million pounds. The insurer, however, continue to occupy the building until mid-2031.22 The sale occurred shortly before the start of the 2008 financial crisis.
In 2004, the building was awarded the Stirling Prize, which awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Architects Journal
Origin of the nickname "The Gherkin"
pickle name first appeared in The Guardian in 1996, referring to his unorthodox profile, and this nickname was adopted by other media and the public. Because something phallic aspect of the present building, was also popularly known by other names as "the erotic gherkin" (erotic gherkin), 20 the "innuendo imposing" (towering innuendo), 25 and the "glass phallus (phallus crystal , a pun on the historic Crystal Palace).
View from Bishopsgate Street, one of the main avenues of the city.
CI Yoseph BUITRAGO 18257871 CRF
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