30 St Mary Axe - The Gherkin - Audioguide London - EN

30 St Mary Axe - The Gherkin

30 St Mary Axe - The Gherkin (2)

DOWNLOAD THIS AUDIO (0.54 MB)

DOWNLOAD ALL (72.16 MB)

HOTEL NEAR

Known popularly as The Gherkin, and very similar to the Agbar Tower in Barcelona, this smart skyscraper, at 180 metres height, stands as the second tallest building of the City area after Tower 42.

The project, which combined the efforts of the architecture studio of the prestigious Norman Foster and the engineering company Arup, was built between 2001 and 2004 and is on a site previously occupied by a historic building of the Baltic Exchange company, which ran maritime hiring and sale of boats and which was practically destroyed by an IRA bomb in 1992. They thought they could restore it at first, but later realised that the structure could not be recovered.

To raise this beautiful work of engineering with a capacity for 4,000 people, 35 kilometres of steel were used. The façade was also covered with 24,000 square metres of glass, making it a massive business, or a terrible headache, depending how you see it, for the window-cleaning sector. It is curious that although the “Gherkin” has a curved appearance, the only curved piece of glass is the dome of floor 40, on which there is a spectacular bar with 360º views of the city.

It is a building that follows strict ecological criteria, and precisely due to its shape. It allows natural light to enter, with the consequent reduction in lighting costs. The ventilation is also improved, using the natural ventilation of the interior spaces, with conducts for cooling in summer and heating in winter. This control of the interior microclimate and energy-saving solutions achieve a reduction of 50%, in any case necessary for a building of this size.

The peculiar appearance of this building has led to controversy. While some people love it and admire it, since among the numerous prizes it has won feature the prestigious Emporis Skyscraper Award of 2003 and the Stirling Prize of 2004, others hate it. As an example, in a survey carried out in 2006 by the BBC London News programme, it was voted by television viewers as one of the most hated buildings in London. It is now your turn to decide whether you like it or not.

ALL POINTS OF INTEREST

INFORMATION

P&T London (0)

The Red Phone Boxes (84)

Changing the Guards Buckingham Palace (28)

The Yeomen Warders (21)

History of the city (1)

Saint Martin-in-the-Fields - Art (65A)

ESSENTIAL

Bank of England (55)

Chinatown (41)

Leicester Square (43)

Oxford Street (5)

Queen Victoria Memorial (68)

The Crown Jewels (20)

Trafalgar Square (4)

Big Ben (42)

Covent Garden (39)

London City Hall (107)

Pall Mall (26)

Regent Street (6)

The Shard (117)

Westminster Abbey (79)

Buckingham Palace (27)

Houses of Parliament (66)

London Eye (18)

Parliament Hill (16)

Saint Paul’s Cathedral (29)

The Yeomen Warders (21)

Westminster Abbey - Chapel Edward the Confessor - Chapel of Henry VII (80)

Changing the Guards Buckingham Palace (28)

Hyde Park (23)

London Tower (19)

Picadilly Circus (8)

Soho (7)

Tower Bridge (22)

Westminster Abbey as Necropolis (81)

INTERESTING

10 Downing Street (46)

Admiralty Arch (69)

Battersea Park (73)

Camden Market (78)

Columbia Road Flower Market (10)

Greenwich (108)

Horse Guards (95)

Leadenhall Building (109)

Millenium Bridge (111)

Parliament Square (83)

Richmond Park (13)

Royal Hospital Chelsea (72)

Saint Jame’s Park (94)

Smithfield Market (100)

St Mary-le-Bow (45)

The Barbican Estate (116)

The Old Vic (85)

Victoria Park (119)

Wembley Stadium (15)

20 Fenchurch Street (118)

Albert Memorial (74)

Bond Street (40)

Carnaby Street (106)

County Hall (62)

Guildhall and the Lord Mayor of the City (54)

Kensington Gardens (76)

Leadenhall Market (110)

Neal's Yard (112)

Petticoat Lane Market (97)

Royal Albert Hall (48)

Royal National Theatre (91)

Saint Martin-in-the-Fields (65)

Southbank Centre (63)

Stratford (113)

The Dome (50)

The Routemaster (90)

Wallace Collection (51)

Westminster Cathedral (67)

30 St Mary Axe - The Gherkin (2)

Alexandra Palace (17)

Borough Market (105)

Charing Cross (47)

Dr. Johnson's House (120)

Harrods Department Store (77)

Kensington Palace (75)

Madame Tussaud’s (38)

Notting Hill (11)

Portobello Road Market (12)

Royal Courts of Justice (57)

Royal Opera House (89)

Saint Pancras Station (92)

Southwark Cathedral (59)

Stratford - ArcelorMittal Orbit Center (115)

The Monument (82)

The West End Theatres (98)

Waterloo Station (88)

Winsor Castle (30)

Abbey Road (104)

Apsley House (102)

British Library (53)

Cleopatra’s Needle (64)

Globe Theatre (86)

HMS Belfast (99)

Lambeth Palace (61)

Marble Arch (71)

One Canada Square (3)

Regent’s Park (25)

Royal Exchange (56)

Saint Jame’s Palace (93)

Shepherd’s Bush (14)

Speaker’s Corner (24)

Stratford Sports Facilities (114)

The Old Curiosity Shop (58)

Tower 42 (103)

Wellington Arch (70)

MUSEUM

British Museum (31)

Madame Tussaud’s (38)

Natural History Museum (33)

Tate Britain (35)

Winsor Castle (30)

Churchill Museum (49)

Museum of London (101)

Science Museum (32)

Tate Modern (36)

Imperial War Museum (60)

National Gallery (34)

Sherlock Holmes Museum (87)

The Crown Jewels (20)

London Zoo (44)

National Portrait Gallery (96)

Sir John Soane’s Museum (52)

Victoria and Albert Museum (37)