Favorite Architect or Building

[Christopher]

30 St Mary's Axe
also known as Swiss Re Tower and The Gherkin



Address: 14-34 St Mary Axe, the City of London, London, EC3
Council: City of London
County: London
Region: London
Country: United Kingdom

Architect: Norman Foster & Partners
Developer: Swiss Re

Status: Complete
Proposal date: 1999
Construction start date: 2001
Completion date: 2003
Style: Zoomorphic

Height (roof): 179.80
Top Floor Height: 163.00
Total Floors (O.G): 41
Total Floors (U.G): 1
Lift Shafts: 17

Primary Use: Office
Floorspace (sq m): 47,950.00
Car Parking Spaces: 5
Land Costs: £90,600,000.00
Date of Purchase: 1998
Construction Cost: £138,000,000.00
Budget Date: 2001

* Each floor rotates 5 degrees from the last but the spiralling atriums were not fully realised. They stop every six floors for fire safety reasons.

* The only curved piece of glass on the entire building is the very top piece that crowns it.

* The advantages of the shape are numerous - at the bottom it tapers in creating more ground space and allowing a new public plaza to build whilst circular towers also create less downdrafts. Tapering at the top into the crown reduces wind resistance further.

* The lifts can caarry a maximum of 378 people at any one time reaching speeds of 6 metres a second.

* The floor to ceiling heights are 2.75 metres, three centimeters more than is needed to have accomodated the worlds tallest man ever. Of course he couldn't have worn heels.

* The building contains the highest dining space in London at 163 metres. The entire top floors are occupied by the company restaurant for Swiss Re.

* The building weighs 70,000 tonnes, contains 333 piles in the foundations, 35 kilometres of structural steel at 11,000 tonnes, and 24,000 square metres of glass cladding.

* Almost all of the plant space is located externally on an adjacent six story structure at 20 Bury Street.

* The building is the winner of the 2005 RIBA Stirling Prize for Architecture and has become an instant hit with the public appearing prominently in Olympic 2012 promotions.



pics taken by me

[coq*]

Lemeray, that sure looks like an interesting buiding.

[Christopher]

Lloyds Building
Also known as Lloyds of London



Address: Lime Street, London, EC3
Council: City of London
County: London
Region: London
Country: United Kingdom

Architect: Richard Rogers Partnership
Developer: Lloyds of London

Status: Complete
Construction start date: 1982
Completion date: 1986
Style: Structural Expressionism
Height (roof): 95.10
Total Floors (O.G): 14
Primary Use: Office

The Lloyd’s Building is one of the most famous modern buildings in London. It was completed in 1986. The Lloyd’s Building is located in the most ancient quarter of London. While walking through the neighbouring streets it is already possible to see parts of the glazed facades of the atrium or the service towers which are clad in stainless steel sandwich panels. The most important aspect of the design of Lloyd’s Building is flexibility. The building is designed as a series of concentric galleries overlooking a central atrium. All fixed obstructions, i.e. toilets, stairs, entrances, lifts and columns are placed outside the building in six vertical towers.

The building is 12 storeys to the north and steps down to six storeys towards the smale scale buildings to the south, creating a series of terraces at various levels. The twelve glazed lifts are arranged at the outside of the building, inside vertical movement is by a central escalator in the atrium. The servant zones stand freely outside the mass of the building. Concentrating lifts, service risers and toilets into the satellite towers and supporting the main building on external columns gives an uninterrupted space within the enclosing envelope and minimises restrictions on use. The vertical and main horizontal ventilation ducts are run externally for the same reason.

text by wjfox2002 (www.skyscrapercity.com)





pics from www.skyscrapercity.com

[BerlinRocks]

this is very Centre Pompidou! and this is pretty normal...
i like richard rogers.

[Christopher]

^ Richard Rogers worked on Centre Pompidou together with Renzo Piano.
Renzo Piano latest London's project (skyscraper over 300 meters high) is waiting to be approved. I will post some pics soon, I'm too lazy now

[Christopher]

Gazprom City
Russian oil giant headquarters

Here are few vision of new Gazprom HQ in St. Petersburg, Russia. I don't know the date of the end of the competition, but it looks it will be amazing project. The names of the architects give more infos about budget of this investition :whistling: The height of it will be around 300 meters :drool_wft:

1. Daniel Libeskind's conception





2. Herzog & de Meuron





3. RMJM from London





4. Office for Metropolitan Architecture - London





5. Jean Nouvel



6. Massimiliano Fuksas




[wft-forum.com]

[style_expert]

^ wow really spectacular, especially the one by Daniel Libeskind

thanks for posting !

[Christopher]

Welcome!

Yes, Liebeskind's is the best one I think. H&dM's is good also, I don't like 4th and 5th conceptions.
Since last time Libeskind's projects are not only modern, interesting, but also very nice, like Złota 44 apartments.

[igotgoodjeans]

i know this is not very original but i am a huge fan of the two franks. gehry and lloyd wright. my dad was an architect and i wish i knew more to appreciate it fully.

[Christopher]

CCTV Headquarters



Location: Beijing, China
Height: 234m
Floors: 49
Construction start: September 2004
Construction completed: 2008/2009
Architect: Rem Koolhaas

The new headquarters of China Central Television (CCTV) is being constructed adjacent to the Third Ring Road in Beijing, China, on a 10ha site in the new Central Business District.

The project was started in september 2004 following a review of the design by a panel of Chinese experts. The construction is scheduled to be completed in time to broadcast the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The development is being undertaken by the Chinese Government as part of a plan to redevelop central Beijing with innovative and functional architecture, while preserving historic buildings at the same time.

The new building will involve two 'L' shaped high-rise towers linked at the top and the bottom at an angle to form a loop, which has been described as a 'Z' criss-cross. The total construction cost is estimated at €600 million ($750 million). The CCTV tower will employ 10,000 people following completion in 2008. But the construction was daleyted because of the opposition against this buildings cost, so the developers say the building will probably not be completed before 2009.
[text by Qazaq @Skyscrapercity]

I saw model of it at one exhibition and it looks wonderful. It's one of my fav buildings. I love the idea with huge screen on the floor/ceiling. I was worried about glass floor there.
A friend of mine took some pics of the model, I will post them soon.









[wft-forum.com]

[style_expert]

^ that's really one of my favourite Rem Koolhaas designs ever. I'd love to see it in real life once it's finished

[justinleaddict]

Mies van der Rohe - Barcelona pavillion

[StellaMare]

My favorite apartment building is def. Casa Mila by Gaudí..imagine living there...

[Christopher]

Tour Phare (Morphosis)
- the new symbol of Paris




The new symbol of Paris will be build in La Defense. It's designed by american architect Thom Mayne. The building will be similar height to Eiffel Tower. Phare should be finished in 2012.

Location: La Defense - Paris
Height: ~ 300 meters
Architect: Thom Mayne
Finished: 2012

Ces deux corps peuvent éventuellement être réunis en un seul, environ 143 000 m² et 135 000 m² de la surface SHON. <----- I don't know what does it mean, but gives some idea about the building.

Other architects of the competition:
Norman Foster
Jacques Ferrier
Massimiliano Fuksas
Manuelle Gautrand
Herzog et de Meuron
Rem Koolhaas
Thom Mayne
Nicolas Michelin
Jean Nouvel
Dominique Perrault









[Wft-forum.com]

[taz]

intresting building..i love how white & bold it is ..thanks for the post Christopher.