Save The Skyline
I’m a huge fan of high rise buildings. I have been sad enough to spend a fair few hours on a summer day just lying on the grass outside One Canada Square, staring up in wonder. However today for the first time I find myself joining the “keep London’s skyline as it is!” protest.
As I was flicking through the paper whilst sitting on the train approaching the city, I was amused to see a picture of the north bank of the Thames including a building which was foreign to me. Actually it looked like something more at home on the story board of a Sponge Bob Squarpants episode.
I glanced out of the train window - conveniently I could just about see the area where the building would be - to check that this structure had not infact been inflated overnight, and was relieved to see no sign of it. However, as I read on my amusement turned to worry as I discovered that this was a picture of how the skyline would actually look in a few years time after the recently approved “Walkie Talkie” tower is built.
I don’t want to sound like some pompous art student but it really would ruin the composition of the skyline, which at the moment has a few elegant tall buildings nicely grouped together. I’m all for having a high rise district but in my opinion this should remain in docklands. Random overbearing buildings like this are not the sort of thing I want to see spoiling the view from the oxo tower restaurant! I don’t think the expression, sticking out like a sore thumb has ever been so apt.
Read more about the Walkie Talkie Building here. Also visit Skyscraper News for more architectural news. Image by Miller Hare
March 7th, 2007 at 4:24 am
the problem with this building is that from this angle it does look overbearing. i agree on that whole heartedly but thats because the image shows the cluster after this phase of the property cycle and this is the least flattering angle of the project by making it appear so prominently.
there are plenty of sites between 20 fenchurch street and the bishopsgate core which will be built on in the not too distant future so what youre seeing in skyline terms is a work in effect. this is why for example it curves down towards the river thames, its been masterplanned so that the space WILL be filled and we will have a coherent skyline in 10 years time.
oh, and that image also shows the building before it was reduced in height by 30 metres… really it’s just a building you love or hate. the architectural equivalent of marmite.