Behold 1 Undershaft; tallest skyscraper for the City Of London looks dull, dull, dull

[salem]

Forgettable but not offensive, especially as part of the cluster.

I wonder in 30 years time if we're look back on them in the same fashion that we look back on some of the 60s concrete brutalist architecture. Where's the variety?!

I think it's inevitable, interestingly though I quite like 60s concrete brutalist architecture and I think it's coming back into fashion. I think it's one of those things that the bad stuff has been largely demolished and the good stuff that's left is getting cleaned up and shown in its intended glory. I think the same will be true of this era of architecture too.

 

[Crispy]

Interview with the architect: 1 Undershaft, the tallest skyscraper in the City of London, revealed

The red frame will be in corten steel, which should look pretty striking. It was originally supposed to have a pyramidal cap like the washington monument, but planners turned it down.

 

[Manter]

They're all boring. Glass and steel boxes full of cunts.

I work in one of them

 

[DotCommunist]

hehehe shaft

 

[bimble]

This one just looks like a very pragmatic honest max use of square footage for return, with some squares on the outside so that nobody laughs at it.
I appreciate that, prefer it to the shard, which what..thinks its Art or something?

 

[trabuquera]

hehehehe stupid scifi reference - I couldn't stop giggling either, not because of the double entendre but because it reminds me irresistibly of the death-oriented Necromonger master race of Chronicles of Riddick who can't stop banging on about the underverse, underdom, etc etc etc. Name fail for the developers, imagination failure on the part of the architects of this proposed building. It's not bad, it's just completely forgettable.

 

[Crispy]

Undershaft is a small road, so named because it ran alongside a large medieval maypole. The pole was torn down in C16th by angry puritans.

 

[Chilli.s]

Looks like a child architect's drawing, which Mummy told him/her to jazz up a bit, so they put crosses on it.

 

[sleaterkinney]

Interview with the architect: 1 Undershaft, the tallest skyscraper in the City of London, revealed

The red frame will be in corten steel, which should look striking. It was originally supposed to have a pyramidal cap like the washington monument, but planners turned it down.

"Parry’s design was originally meant to be crowned with a pointy hat, like Cleopatra’s Needle or the Washington Monument, but the planners requested “a less demonstrative top. They didn’t want another overt shape"

So that's the end of interesting looking buildings then.

 

[19sixtysix]

New York's skyscrapers are built on bed rock. Surely with all the weight in the buildings being thrown up the london clay must give a bit. How long till the new leaning tower.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I think it looks great. Clean and simple; slim and elegant.

It fits the surrounding cluster too. It would be easy to make that area a fucking mess when seen from a distance but that compliments it.

It slots in nicely between Leadenhall and SMA from that angle. It seems ..... correct.

Yep. Fits the cluster.

Just a shame that the Gherkin will be drowned out even more. You'll only be able to see it from the East soon. Remember when it was like a freestanding building in the area that could be seen from everywhere.

 

[spanglechick]

I quite like it.

Design isn't just form: it's also the two-dimensional appearance. This is patterned, and that's what makes it work. The pattern reflects the squareness of its footprint which is pleasing. I think, after a decade or so of whimsical shapes, the simplicity of this feels fresh and clean. Plus, most boxy tower blocks are rectangular rather than square, aren't they?

It reminds me of a packet of sweets.

 

[DotCommunist]

it ran alongside a large medieval maypole

so it IS a phallic reference just by a convoluted historic route

 

[bi0boy]

"Parry’s design was originally meant to be crowned with a pointy hat, like Cleopatra’s Needle or the Washington Monument, but the planners requested “a less demonstrative top. They didn’t want another overt shape"

So that's the end of interesting looking buildings then.

I really like One Canada Square's pyramid roof, especially when it steams.

 

[Crispy]

I like the subtle taper in the cross bracing

Not so keen on the lift core that protrudes for 2/3rd of the Western facade (you'll never see this from a distance cos it's surrounded by other towers).
But the materials are very nice.

 

[Hocus Eye.]

Why are office buildings so much in demand? A lot of that work is surely likely to be done in the near future by computers without any staff? Unstaffed computer buildings could be built underground.

When seen together in the photograph, all of those buildings give the impression of architects trying too hard to be original while obviously influenced by each other.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Why are office buildings so much in demand? A lot of that work is surely likely to be done in the near future by computers without any staff? Unstaffed computer buildings could be built underground.

When seen together in the photograph, all of those buildings give the impression of architects trying too hard to be original while obviously influenced by each other.

Except the Gherkin, imo. The more buildings that sprout around it, the better it looks in comparison.

 

[Hocus Eye.]

Except the Gherkin, imo. The more buildings that sprout around it, the better it looks in comparison.

I agree. I am starting to quite like it.

 

[bimble]

Except the Gherkin, imo. The more buildings that sprout around it, the better it looks in comparison.

Yeah maybe. A whole sprouting forest of nondescript bollocks might in time help legitimate the crudeness of the central knob.

 

[bimble]

I like the subtle taper in the cross bracing

Is it proper copper ?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I think the Gherkin's really elegant. And looked great when not closed in by other stuff.

 

[bimble]

I think the Gherkin's really elegant. And looked great when not closed in by other stuff.

I like gherkin too, don't know about elegant but I like it for it's unabashedness, it's tactile and simple and shameless.
That shard thing makes me feel a bit cross every time I see it.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I like gherkin too, for it's unabashedness, it's tactile and simple and shameless.
That shard thing makes me feel a bit cross every time I see it.

I find the shard rather underwhelming given how big it is. I don't hate it, but neither do I get any pleasure from looking at it, either close-up or from afar. It's just kind of there.

 

[Crispy]

Is it proper copper ?

Corten steel. Pre-rusted and rough. Angel of the North is made of it.
loads of images: Corten steel - Google Search

I find the shard rather underwhelming given how big it is. I don't hate it, but neither do I get any pleasure from looking at it, either close-up or from afar. It's just kind of there.

The best thing the shard does is when the sun's setting and you're standing on top of the hill in Brockwell Park in the drizzle, but there's clear skies in the West and the angle's just right and the whole thing lights up like a column of fire. But that doesn't happen every day

 

[bimble]

I find the shard rather underwhelming given how big it is. I don't hate it, but neither do I get any pleasure from looking at it, either close-up or from afar. It's just kind of there.

I hate it. And that's what (i think) is what's so awful about it - it's not 'just there' it looks like it's trying to actually say something, like something arty or meaningful, something post-post -deconstructed meaningful arty something - which is why it hurts your head when you look at the top of it, where they decided that this non-statement was worth forfeiting a few million quid of rentable square feet.
The gherkin says love me & the shard says .. something really defensive & pretentious. This new one just seems to say 'office space at £... per square foot.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I hate it. And that's what (i think) is what's so awful about it - it's not 'just there' it looks like it's trying to actually say something, like something arty or meaningful, something post-post -deconstructed meaningful arty something - which is why it hurts your head when you look at the top of it, where they decided that this non-statement was worth forfeiting a few million quid of rentable square feet.

I know what you mean, I think. It's trying to look 'just thrown together', except of course that it can't be just thrown together, so there is something painstaking and overworked about its faux casualness. It's like some fancy plate of fine-dining food that's been arranged precisely in a way that's supposed to look natural, but ends up looking anything but.

For me, the fact that I don't look twice at it when I pass by is damning enough for something that big. TBH it looked loads more interesting while they were building it and you could see the core.

 

[Dr. Furface]

I like the Shard because it's different and bold but not in an ugly way. And also because of its location, it stands alone and is such a great landmark.

Contrast it to that Undershaft one, which is about as unimaginative as it gets - I can't think of anything remotely interesting about it, so I hate it already.

 

[bimble]

I like the Shard because it's different and bold but not in an ugly way.

Ugliness is in the eye of the beholder then

 

[Dr. Furface]

Ugliness is in the eye of the beholder then

Agreed!

 

[Mation]

A nickname would have to be very good indeed to beat The Undershaft.

The Cock Block.