1 Undershaft is supposed to be built in the City of London: in height (309.6 m) it will be equal to the Renzo Piano The Shard skyscraper on the opposite bank of the Thames and will become one of the two tallest in London - on a par with the Shard. Such parity is forced: this height is the maximum for the city center, allowed by the Civil Aviation Administration
“I wanted to do something calm,” explains Eric Parry Architects, author of the project, commissioned by Singapore-based Aroland Holdings. Investors bought this piece of land in 2011 for £ 288 million.
According to the architect, the skyscraper will be "the last piece of the puzzle" in the financial center of London. 1 Undershaft will be sandwiched between two famous office high-rises - Norman Foster's 30 St Mary Ax and Richard Rogers' Cheesegrater (or officially Leadenhall Building). Another skyscraper is being built nearby - 22 Bishopsgate designed by PLP Architecture (278 m high and twice as wide as 1 Undershaft), which the British media have already called "a tombstone that will turn the City into one big solid piece."
Perry, by the way, did not do without comparisons with the "neighbors". At Ledenhall, hi-tech master Rogers, the use of steel in transverse structures, according to Perry, is "wasteful", there is "2.5 times more of it than [will] in Undershaft." Notably, both towers have a 10m high open space on the ground floors, which creates a “dialogue of buildings,” Perry said.
Eric Parry, who published the book Context in 2015, warned that "an orgy of high-rise buildings will transform and possibly eventually suppress London" (in 2014 Archi.ru
wrote about the protests caused by more than 200 new tower projects for the British capital). This "deluge" of skyscrapers, he said, is rapidly transforming a city of light Portland stone into a metropolis cluttered with "imported green glass shells" that symbolize "Faustian's deal between national commerce and real estate." And his own new project may well be a confirmation of this thesis.
Building 1 Undershaft, square at its base, is 73 storeys high and has a total area of 90,000 m2; its glass facades are crossed out by giant “crosses” of brushed Corten steel (thanks to them it received the nickname Trellis - “trellis” or “trellis”), behind them are horizontal rows of white blinds. According to Perry, 1 Undershaft "blends the autumn beauty of rusty red with the bright white of spring" and will stand out in the skyline of the City, which is now "fatally ill with an abundance of greenish-gray glass."
A similar no-nonsense skyscraper could be found somewhere in Chicago or New York if it did not have an English Corten steel suit, says Oliver Wainwright, an architectural columnist for The Guardian. The silhouette of the building, according to the author of the project, has a slightly conical shape: its facades converge at an imaginary focal point at a height of 10 times its own. This is a reference to the famous memorial to the fallen in World War I - "Cenotaph" on London's Whitehall Street by Edwin Lutches: its walls "converge" at an altitude of 1000 feet above it.
In addition to offices, the tower will house a 2-tier observation deck, the tallest in the city - the fact that it will be free to visit, unlike most similar institutions, will give the skyscraper public significance. An educational center will be set up next to the site: there teachers will be able to tell schoolchildren about the history and modernity of London using the example of its real 360-degree panorama. The base of the tower will also be public: there will be a square, and pedestrians will be able to walk right under the skyscraper. In the first underground level, shops and cafes with a total area of about 1800 m2 are planned. These elements of the program, available seven days a week, should make 1 Undershaft more efficient than a typical office building "running" for five days.
The tower has a capacity of 10,000 employees; among other things, a parking lot for 1,500 bicycles is provided for them: it is equipped with a shower and a changing room, which should contribute to the popularity of this type of transport among "white collars".
