Pickle, Shard, and Fox - London's Bold and Eclectic Experimentation

With the possible exception of my own hometown on a summer day when the Red Sox are playing, London has always been my favorite city in the world.  Certainly not for the weather.  Not for the romantic beauty or sweeping vistas.  Not for the food (though the days of boiled potatoes two meals a day have given way to a rich array of immigrant-driven foods).  But I have always loved the city for the eclectic nature of Earth's best walking city.  A pub named after a maker of clay pots in Chelsea (Chelsea Potter), could be around the corner from a 12th century armor shop or a bookstore with volumes from Oliver Cromwell's day.  My own ancestors came from a splinter group of Loughboroughs who were "disowned for religious independent thinking" in England in Oliver Cromwell's time and after a few generations they'd had enough of that and made their way to America.  What they left behind was a city which has never been afraid to reinvent itself.  London is reinventing itself again right now, and is embracing a bold architectural renaissance seen in few other Western countries. 

Two buildings, surveying each other from opposite sides of the Thames typify that renaissance.  Norman Foster's 30 St. Mary's Axe (better knows as The Gherkin) and Renzo Piano's Shard. 

Both stand near what could be considered hallowed London ground - that stretch of the Thames between Tower Bridge and London Bridge, near the historic Tower of London.  Many lesser cities would not allow enormous new modernist structures anywhere near architectural treasures of the past.  But London embraces whimsy, boldness, and change like no modern city I know.

The Gherkin

To my way of thinking, Norman Foster's spectacular Gherkin is a great example of a true twenty-first century structure.  Gone are the materials of the twentieth century - the pale concrete which mars so many of the twentieth century's monuments.  In its place are multicolored glass, and sharp curved interior bands of steel visible through the glass to form an exquisite curved lattice.  The building embraces curves, conveys motion, reflects its surroundings in interpretative style, and changes in the light as the day passes.  This is one of the best modern buildings I have ever seen.

The Gherkin Amidst the Eclectic Old and New Buildings of London

Londoners have embraced the Gherkin, despite its close proximity to iconic ancient structures.  In fact, the two combine to create a PLAYFUL CONTRAST BETWEEN OLD AND NEW which is vintage London and very very appealing.  A key lesson for our design in Boston.  And a principal of greatness which we must not forget.  Respecting context is not about uniformity or copying of old materials or structures.  It is about play, beauty and the unexpected.

Here, the Gherkin and the Tower Bridge take the exquisite details of old London to open a window to new London:

Detail of Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge Provides a Window to Norman Foster's Gherkin, Mixing Old and New London

Here, the Gherkin and the Tower of London play with each other in the night skyline of London:

The Shard

Renzo Piano's Shard stands on the opposite side of the Thames.  Like New York's Freedom Tower, the Shard is still under construction and nearing completion. It is a bold, creative structure, seeming to draw from the ancient pyramids, the feeling of fragment slivers of broken glass, and an appealingly modern peak.  Unless I miss my guess, the structure will also allow for the bane of modern architecture - cell and microwave towers which mar the tops of most great architecture - to be hidden inside the structure itself hidden from ugly view.

London's Shard even has its own mascot.  Somehow, in an epic journey, a very lost fox made his way to the top of the Shard construction and settled in.  The construction workers and people pf London have embraced both the Shard and the fox, who has become an unofficial mascot of the new tower.

 

The Shard is modern, inspiring, bold, and beautiful, and like its earlier cousin the Gherkin, plays with the London skyline in contrasting and evocative ways:

It's a beautiful piece of work.  I do have to confess something though.  That last shot makes my heart shudder.  I still can't see a plane near a tall iconic building without feeling that shudder.  For my generation that feeling may never go away.  But for the next generation - like my daughter,  traveling companion, and Trinity Spire collaborator Rachel - that incredible sense of optimism that comes from seeing the world with fresh eyes (like the smiling young child in my photo from the WTC memorial site) provides a different purpose for celebrating our 250th year.  Not to look back at the trials, materials, and ways of the past, but to proclaim our opportunity for leadership in a new quarter millennium.  My shudder, and her smile, bring home to me the true purpose of building a great iconic skyline-defining monument in Boston for our country's 250th anniversary - to reach into our entrepreneurial spirit and build the future. 

- Tod