Bloomberg Place | City of London | 41m | 10fl | U/C

[jimbo]

ah so, Potto beat me to the post, but hey ho, might as well post what I took and give my opinions. What time were you there Potto? There was a youngish bloke in jeans, rucksack and with a rather impressive looking camera at the same time Smoggie and my goodself were nosing around. Any of you guys?

The city plan:


the city skyline render:

funnily enough what I think you guys think was Minerva, I thought was a basic mock up of what may be the Portland Estates tower opposite 99 Bishopsgate and across the road from Heron. I think I'm clearly wrong though.

[jimbo]

couple of compare and constrast renders, firstly looking down Watling Street

the chaps from the Foster office were really pushing the public realm element, and I must admit as a regular Watling Street / Bow Lane wanderer, the reopening of Watling Street as a path through the scheme will do wonders for accessibility and provide wonderful views of St Pauls from as far east as Walbrook.


Apologies for the pants quality of this one - stop and snap was the motto, I was hungry!

edit: shit, those are out of focus. Whoops, less haste next time Jimbo.

[jimbo]

my opinions:
- like public realm and opening up of routes through the development;
- going to be a metallic / aluminium cladding on the high parts, with mostly glass pannelling with those sort of fins similar to those seen on Bankside 123;
- Mithras temple element adds a bit of historic clout;
- don't like the round windows on the tower - look like strange portholes
- overall shape is an amorphous blob, not sure I'm warming to it, from distance looks like a heaving mass sat, sort of like the blob Camille from Red Dwarf series 4 (woah, geek alert) sat in the foreground to the city towers;

Empty site middle of next year - demolition to begin straight away regardless of whether it gets planning permission or not according to the Foster representative.

[jimbo]

Originally Posted by wjfox2002

Holy shit... I think you may be right.

first time for everything. The architects running the show are very chatty and eager to discuss all the elements including lots of complicated stuff on the photo-voltic cladding etc. Anyone around tmrw - get thee down there even if its a bus or tube ride, makes you appreciate the sheer level of detail involved in the design and planning application.

The chap said they presented similar stuff to the press last month, so the lack of slagging comments from the Mail / Standard is a bit of a surprise. Perhaps the media wooing has been successful.

To be frank its replacing the most hulking and ugly building in the centre of the city IMO.

[potto]

Originally Posted by jimbo

ah so, Potto beat me to the post, but hey ho, might as well post what I took and give my opinions. What time were you there Potto? There was a youngish bloke in jeans, rucksack and with a rather impressive looking camera at the same time Smoggie and my goodself were nosing around. Any of you guys?

Oh they were you! Ha im half in one of your pics too! How strange

[Jake_the_Peg]

I remember visiting Yosemite National Park in California where there is a famous mountain of a similar shape to this building, called the 'half-dome', so that's the name I think I'll give it.

[jimbo]

Originally Posted by potto

Oh they were you! Ha im half in one of your pics too! How strange

whoops, accidently 'outed' half of what Potto looks like. Anonymity and cover blown old fruit.

haha, Fred Perry eh sport, and no suit, what are you doing in the city?

@ jake_the_peg - spot on, I see where you're coming from on that one.

[jimbo]

Originally Posted by potto

Oh they were you! Ha im half in one of your pics too! How strange

amusingly we thought you might have been gothic!

[Smoggie_Si]

Originally Posted by potto

Oh they were you! Ha im half in one of your pics too! How strange

A belated hello Potto! I was the one in pinstripe suit with a rather drastically shaved head.

[potto]

I should have told the Foster people I was Gothic, perhaps they would have fed me the posh food that was on offer (or was it just decoration, I couldnt tell?!).


This model shows the expected light intensity falling on te building, the yellow areas will have photo-voltaic cladding similar to the sparkly crystal stuff shown below, the overall cladding on the cloud bits is glass and not metallic as some had predicted, although the photo cells might provide some points of light. 15% of the energy used will be from this renewable source.

The buildings will also use rainwater harvesting to irrigate the landscape and for the toilets and use the sustainable urban drainage system. THe landscaping of the roofs is a major part of the scheme so I dont think it is mere decoration.







The cladding also incorporates a pattern of horizontal slats to shade the building in relation to the glare studies. Also the space between the main block and the 'cloud' was used as outdoor recreational space with a lot of greenery

[potto]

An interesting map showing the heavy presence of retail (RED) (mainly cafes/bars especially on the walbrook street facing sides. BLUE shows the office entrances and notice the new Underground entrance

[potto]

This building next to Bucklersbury House on Cannon St is also going to be redeveloped by Foster:

[gothicform]

how did you guyys find it. we spent half an hour looking for that fucking exhibition, the people at legal and general didnt know where it was and everyone else gave us directions that just made us walk around and round the building. waste of fucking time.
potto, jimbo, can i loot your pics please?

[potto]

Originally Posted by GazKinz

If you are talking about the building circled in red in the picture below then I will not be supporting this project for that reason alone. London has had enough of it's classical architecture vandalished, why haven't they learnt? There are enough sites all around London with really drossy and boring 60s, 70s and 80s buildings ripe for redevelopment without us having to demolish any fine classical buildings.

[IMG]http://i6.************/1585ybs.jpg[/IMG]

In general it really doesn't seem all that good. It's far too bulky, the lower part of the building is too boxy and modernist looking, as well as that the lower part of the buildings in no way relate to the top and the square is tiny.
On a plus note, I still like the general shape of the tower, although it could do with being a fair bit slimer and taller. I had high hopes for this and I really dig the idea of something very futuristic and different on this site, this propsal has definately fallen short for me.

I think that the building remains, see how the scheme steps down from the height of 1 Poultry to a lower level more inkeeping with the Victorian block next door

[potto]

Originally Posted by gothicform

how did you guyys find it. we spent half an hour looking for that fucking exhibition, the people at legal and general didnt know where it was and everyone else gave us directions that just made us walk around and round the building. waste of fucking time.
potto, jimbo, can i loot your pics please?

Sure, I found it quite difficult to find too, typical 60s design! Asked a girl in some security side entrance and she pointed across the lane to the entrance, think i would have walked past it!

[potto]

The development also realises the old street pattern, the new streets do not precisely follow the old pattern but it is close:

Looking down from St Pauls Cathedral through the development towards the new square at the other end. Note the step-down between the two blocks




A second old street realised again, this time connecting the New Sq with the
existing pedestrian route that runs through 1 Poultry into Poultry (street)

[JGG]

Originally Posted by GazKinz

If you are talking about the building circled in red in the picture below then I will not be supporting this project for that reason alone. London has had enough of it's classical architecture vandalished, why haven't they learnt? There are enough sites all around London with really drossy and boring 60s, 70s and 80s buildings ripe for redevelopment without us having to demolish any fine classical buildings.

[IMG]http://i6.************/1585ybs.jpg[/IMG]

In general it really doesn't seem all that good. It's far too bulky, the lower part of the building is too boxy and modernist looking, as well as that the lower part of the buildings in no way relate to the top and the square is tiny.
On a plus note, I still like the general shape of the tower, although it could do with being a fair bit slimer and taller. I had high hopes for this and I really dig the idea of something very futuristic and different on this site, this propsal has definately fallen short for me.

No fortunately it is not that building although given the height of the plint the view from that angle is going to be messy (so that is why they do not show it). The building they are taking out is neo-classical, I would say from the 30s, not a great landmark but still a nice building in natural stone. They could have been a bit more creative by incorporating it. It is the old London Chambers of Commerce building on the corner of Cannon and Queen street. All other buildings on that site are ugly 60s buildings.

[Jack Rabbit Slim]

Nope, I was reserving judgement on this one till I saw better renders of it, and I have now seen the building from almost every angle.....and I do not like it! It is the wrong hieght, shape, colour, material etc for the area it is in, the design is typcial Foster (in his more recent years) trying to be iconic, loading the place with glass, trying to have a unique design that just looks wierd and wrong! What's happened to you Foster....???

Not terrible looking I guess, but deffinietly not one I like or am hoping gets built!

[potto]

The View From the River, note the greenery to break up the massing




An interesting symmetrical formation, echoes of renaissance St Pauls?




I quite like this part next to the square

[potto]

Originally Posted by Jack Rabbit Slim

Nope, I was reserving judgement on this one till I saw better renders of it, and I have now seen the building from almost every angle.....and I do not like it! It is the wrong hieght, shape, colour, material etc for the area it is in, the design is typcial Foster (in his more recent years) trying to be iconic, loading the place with glass, trying to have a unique design that just looks wierd and wrong! What's happened to you Foster....???

Not terrible looking I guess, but deffinietly not one I like or am hoping gets built!

I agree with people when they say that they were hoping for something even more futuristic (especially the use of the 'cloud' terminology) but I think we have quite a fascinating piece of design here and a thorough, intelligent thought process that I wish had existed before we got all the 60s modernist and 80s/90s post modern dross that has filled the streets around here and the rest of the country! I feel that this could be far superior to Cardinal Place and that seemed to get quite a lot of support on here.