30 St Mary Axe is a building located in the financial district of London, England. The forty-one story building has multiple nicknames, most commonly called “The Gherkin” because of the shape of the building being extremely similar to the shape of a pickle. To the right is an exterior view of the building. Located in the financial district of London, The Gherkin has become one of the world’s newest urban icons and continues to be admired for its planning, design, innovation, use of steel, and reinterpretation of the skyscraper stereotype. (Massey par. 2)
This building was designed by the famed architect, Norman Foster. Norman Foster was born in 1935 in England. As an only child, he had an interest on structure and designs. He left school at the age of 16 to work as a town hall clerk and to later work in the engineering part of the Royal Air Force for two years. He studied at the University of Manchester and later earned his master’s in 1962 at Yale University’s School of Architecture. While studying at Yale, Foster met Richard Rogers. In 1963, Foster, along with Richard and Su Rogers, formed an architectural group called Team 4. Foster independently dispersed from Team 4 in 1967 and formed Foster Associates, which later became Foster + Partners. (Editors, Biography.com pars. 1-3)
There is a long history to the Gherkin. Before the Gherkin was built, another building sat on the property. This building was called the Baltic Exchange Building. In 1992, an explosive device was detonated and damaged the building in many major ways. Because there was so much damage done, city officials decided to tear the building down and build a larger tower, later becoming the Gherkin. The Gherkin was originally planned differently as it is today. It was planned to be a much larger building named the “Millennium Tower.” However, the plan of the Millennium Tower did not get approval. A major reason why it was not approved was because people were worried that it could negatively affect air traffic. After this plan was not approved, Norman Foster then created a scaled-down version. This new, updated version will become what we know today as the Gherkin. (“30 St Mary Axe: The Gherkin.” par. 6)
The Gherkin Tower is a very well known building in the world, but many people do not realize that its famous hexagonal exterior layer was inspired by the Venus Flower Basket Sponge. Pictured to the right is the sea sponge. “This special sponge hosts a lattice-like exoskeleton that appears glassy and glowing in its underwater environment. The various levels of fibrous lattice work help to disperse stresses on the organism in various directions and its round shape reduce forces due to strong water currents, both of which were applied to Foster’s design of the tower.” (“Lord Foster's Natural Inspiration” par. 1) This building has very similar attributes to organisms in real life. Another example is its relation to the pinecone. A pine cone has a natural spiral too it and like the Gherkin, opens and closes in response to weather. (www.fosterandpartners.com par. 4)
The Gherkin is made of a couple simple materials. This building is made primarily steel, aluminum, and glass. (6 link). Steel is a hard and strong alloy of iron and is used very often in buildings. Norman Foster is very known for his buildings with steel and his use of steel. In the Gherkin, there are essentially no sharp edges or corners meaning that all sides are rounded. There is an outside layer of glass panels. At the top of the building there is a lens-like dome to serve as an observation deck (“30 St Mary Axe: The Gherkin.” par. 3). The exterior of 30 St Mary Axe gives a variety of curves of steel dealing heavily with shapes and geometry. To add onto the external design of the Gherkin, “The external diagonal steel structure is by virtue of its triangulated geometry, inherently strong and light, permitting a flexible column-free interior space.” The glass is used on the exterior as cladding. Cladding is applying one material on top of another material to create a layer. The exterior cladding consists of 5,500 flat triangular and diamond shaped glass panels, which vary at each level. (www.fosterandpartners.com par. 5).
The design of the Gherkin is also very energy efficient and the building as many features to enhance the efficiency. For example, there are open shafts built between each floor to act like ventilation and this does not use energy. During the summertime, These open shafts pull warm air out of the buildings and in the winter will use passive heat from the sun to bring heat into the building. These open shafts also allows sunlight to enter the building to be used as light. It has been said that this building uses half of the energy that a similar sized building would use. (“30 St Mary Axe: The Gherkin.” par. 4)
Today, the primary use of 30 St Mary Axe is as an office building. For many companies, it is used as the headquarters. Large companies, Swiss Re and Sky News, use this building for offices for workers. Also, popular television shows and radio shows are filmed in this building (“30 St Mary Axe: The Gherkin.” par. 8). Too add on, the Gherkin has a restaurant inside the building on level 39 and on level 38, the building has private dining rooms available to book. The picture above is the interior of the restaurant.
This famous building will be major influence to future skyscrapers. Not only will this building will influence future designs of skyscrapers, it will also influence the minds of architects and help them create more unusual ideas that are no commonly thought of. This building shows that skyscrapers can be of different sizes and shapes. Instead of having a rectangular skyscraper, it could be curved on edges. The building also gives architects the idea that buildings can be inspired off of nature. A design can be inspired by many things and the Gherkin is a perfect example of this because it was inspired off of a sea sponge. So, after starting construction in 2001, finishing in December of 2003, and finally opening its doors to the public in April of 2004, the Gherkin has become world-famous building. It has won many awards for its design and innovation and continues to be an inspiration to many architects and their designs.