Would you like a side of ham with that gherkin? With the addition of Foggo Associates new “Can of Ham” office tower, describing London’s skyline is beginning to become more akin to reading from the shelves of your local grocery store.
Taking its nickname from its unique arched shape, 70 St. Mary Axe is a 446,863-sf, 21-story office tower that is the newest addition to a cluster of towers in the City of London. The building’s scheme provides efficient, flexible office space organized around a central core. Retail accommodation and public realm enhancements are incorporated at the ground level.
A double-height reception area with a front desk created as a one-off art installation, welcomes visitors into the building. 70 St. Mary Axe was created with movable walls for maximum flexibility. The 70 SMA app can be used to order food from the various coffee shops and cafes, book time in the building’s fitness amenities, hire the building’s bikes, or book meeting rooms and event spaces. Lounge spaces on the mezzanine level and the second floor are available to tenants with no booking required. Additionally, 70 St. Mary Axe has 328 cycle spaces on site and has achieved CS Platinum, the highest level of cycling score certification.
The distinctive height and form of the building were designed in response to strategic local views. Solar heat gains to the office space are reduced thanks to vertical shading fins on the curved facades and glazed double wall cladding on the end elevations. Borehole thermal energy storage and energy piles are also included to help the building achieve low carbon emissions.
Unfortunately for the Can of Ham and its new neighbors the Gherkin and the Cheese Grater, the Tulip will not be joining them as part of London’s colorfully-named skyline.
Related Stories
| Aug 27, 2014
Designs for community-based workspace in Carlsbad unveiled
Cruzan announced make, a 175,000-square-foot office redevelopment project on the coast of Carlsbad, Calif. Cruzan will usher this next generation of community-based, integrated workspace into existence in fall 2014.
| Aug 25, 2014
Tall wood buildings: Surveying the early innovators
Timber has been largely abandoned as a structural solution in taller buildings during the last century, in favor of concrete and steel. Perkins+Will's Rebecca Holt writes about the firm's work in surveying the burgeoning tall wood buildings sector.
| Aug 25, 2014
'Vanity space' makes up large percentage of world's tallest buildings [infographic]
Large portions of some skyscrapers are useless space used to artificially enhance their height, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
| Aug 25, 2014
Photographer creates time-lapse video of 1 WTC using 30,000 photos
Choosing from 30,000 photos he took from the day construction began in 2006 to the day when construction was finished in 2012, Brooklyn-based photographer Benjamin Rosamund compressed 1,100 photos to create the two-minute video.
| Aug 19, 2014
Goettsch Partners unveils design for mega mixed-use development in Shenzhen [slideshow]
The overall design concept is of a complex of textured buildings that would differentiate from the surrounding blue-glass buildings of Shenzhen.
| Aug 18, 2014
From icon to breadbasket: Gehry building to be turned into Whole Foods
The Howard Hughes Corporation, in association with architecture firm Cho Benn Holback + Associates, plans to turn the building—at least the majority of it—into a Whole Foods.
| Aug 18, 2014
SPARK’s newly unveiled mixed-use development references China's flowing hillscape
Architecture firm SPARK recently finished a design for a new development in Shenzhen. The 770,700 square-foot mixed-use structure's design mimics the hilly landscape of the site's locale.
| Aug 14, 2014
How workplace design can empower employees, businesses
Focusing on recent work at Follett and Zurich, CannonDesign’ Meg Osman reveals the power of research, strategy, change management, and measurement to transform businesses for the better.
| Aug 12, 2014
Shading prototype could allow new levels of environmental control for skyscraper occupants
Developed by architects at NBBJ, Sunbreak uses a unique three-hinged shade that morphs from an opaque shutter to an abstract set of vertical blinds to an awning, depending on what is needed.
| Aug 11, 2014
The Endless City: Skyscraper concept connects all floors with dual ramps
Rather than superimposing one floor on top of another, London-based SURE Architecture proposes two endless ramps, rising gradually with a low gradient from the ground floor to the sky.