It is located very close to the Cathedral of St. Paul, which is considered by its architect as a virtue: according to him, from the cafe center located on the roof of the center, visitors can almost touch the dome of the famous church. Other advantages of the new structure include its function: the shops, cafes and restaurants located there should liven up the City's business district in the evenings and on weekends. Also, One New Change will bring there the necessary infrastructure for the Londoners working there.
But from an urban planning and architectural point of view, this is a less unambiguous acquisition. Nouvel deserves credit for the fact that he managed to make this large complex (3 storeys of shops (20.4 thousand m2) and 5 floors of offices (30.7 m2)) almost invisible from the surrounding streets. This is partly due to its dim color: stripes of clear glass alternating with brown fritted areas - although this color, which is not typical for the City, also deserved reproach. But, most importantly, the imposing dimensions of the complex destroy the medieval layout, traditional for this area of London, with narrow lanes and small buildings.
One New Change has already been called a "stealth building" due to its broken lines and inconspicuousness. Most likely, Nouvel deliberately strove for such an "effect", which, among other things, affected the quality of his project: when describing it, most critics limit themselves to retelling the story of Prince Charles's attempt to replace the French architect with someone from his circle, but they say not a word actually about the architectural solution.
