The Gherkin — London Glass Helix
749.00 د.إ
30 St Mary Axe (The Gherkin) in the City of London photographed from below in the financial district — the spiralling diagonal grid of the glass facade rising to the tapering dome, surrounding towers reflected in its surface.
Description
30 St Mary Axe — the Gherkin — designed by Norman Foster and Partners and completed in 2003, represents one of the most structurally innovative commercial towers in European architecture: the diagrid external structure eliminates internal columns on each floor, and the spiralling geometry of the facade diagonal grid creates a natural ventilation system that reduces air conditioning energy consumption by 50%. The glass facade — 24,000 individual diamond-shaped panes — reflects the surrounding City of London skyline in a continuously shifting pattern as the building curves. This photograph was made from the open pedestrian area at the base of the building looking directly upward, using a rectilinear ultra-wide-angle lens to capture the full building height in a single frame with the maximum of the facade’s geometric complexity visible. The surrounding towers are reflected in the lower curves, creating a meta-architectural composition of the City district within the Gherkin’s glass.
