London • Canary Wharf - UK

Those "towers" are ventilation towers for the busy Blackwall Tunnel that runs under the Thames and is the first connection into London from the mouth of the River Thames after the QE2 Suspension Bridge via road. These are northern vent towers, if you look at the Millennium Dome, you will see identical towers - these are the southern vent towers. I have no idea what they plan to do with them - leave them or alter them though.

I think I worked out that by 2008, Canary Wharf would have the same number of skyscrapers as San Francisco - its growing at a frightening rate!!!!

Canary Wharf by 2008! Makes you wet your pants


I also do not exactly feel Canary Wharf is at the forefront of world architecture. They are however nice boxes and the street furniture is better than other such clusters (La Defense being a great example of failing at street level). The materials used in the construction are also some of the best (you really need to be there to see ).

I however am looking forward to the other clusters, notably:
The City - Minerva, 122 Leadenhall, Heron, 58 Building
Southwark - LBT, possibly London Bridge House (something rumoured at 243m?)
Among all the others: Paddington, Waterloo, Victoria, Stratford, Croydon, Vauxhall and Ilford as other up and coming clusters

[Blackbelt Jones]

Here is a render I found of current and future development for Canary Wharf. I found it at Skyscrapernews.com!

more night time pics required

[SeeMacau]

Gorgeous !!
10/10

[Sparks]

A reminder of what Canary Wharf looked like in the mid 80's.

[R@ptor]

Canary Wharf: 7.5
London City: 5.5
Overall: 6.5

[ferge]

Whether people like it or not, or whether they find the buildings bland and boring you cannot deny the success of CW. To go from nothing to a business utopia with however many millions of square feet in less than 20 yrs is nothing short of incredible

[NothingBetterToDo]

Pictures of Canary wharf never do it justice, you really need to see the place to be impressed by it, the Buildings look small and fat in pictures,the scale of the place need to be seen to be believed, real life the buildings look tall and soar high into the sky, especially when you come put of CW tube station and 1CS is to your right (if i remember correctly) and it take a few seconds for your eyes to reach the top of the building.

Also the place is really buzzing at street level, there are always loads of people walking around, mainly office workers, but also ordinary people - usually around the shopping centre.

But as i said, the pics never do it justice, i like CW but whenever i see pics of it i am never impressed and i think it looks bland and boxy- this is far from the reality

[spankymonkey]

Sorry i couldnt find the other one all are quite old so some might need up-dating.

[Fragmentor]

well, i gave it a seven, but if it were a poll in 5 years time, it would be right up there with the 10's, definitely a nine in a few years time

[spankymonkey]

Its much different to anything thats been done before. its like "a city within a city"

9/10

[spankymonkey]

Originally Posted by HiJazzey

Why is canary wharf seperated from the rest of London?

Personally I don't like the docklands, to me it's a wasted opportunity. Here you have the chance to build a modern business district without all the restrictions that you have in the city, and all they managed is a cluster of dull bland and dreary boxes. And the residential developments are even worse. The only thing interesting architecturally are the tube stations!

Canary Wharf isnt just about Skyscrapers though. the street life is awesome. they've tried to intergrate the Old London into this scheme aswell.

[ferge]

On those last pics it quite simply looks like a lil piece of America in the UK...Cept, better :P Its just brilliant, its dense without being crowded, the new is shiny and modern yet the earlier buildings have aged just a tad to make them look like buildings from the city itself, i love it..im worried the new towers might ruin it a bit tho, sometimes i like them, other times i dont, but it is a place id LOVE to live, Londontropolis, lol

[jimm]

8/10

[Malito]

7/10 Its a beatuiful Skyline no doubt, and the transformation from an empty dockland to this in only around 10 years is amazing, but still not impressive. Battery Park City, here in New York, did the same thing, and with the same results. WFC has around 8-10 million square feet of office space alone, and Goldman Sachs will add to that. Canary Wharf shows major potential though.

P.S. Notice how Canary Wharf Also copied Battery Park City in Architecture (One Canada Square-Three World Financial Center both designed by Pelli)

[Nick in Atlanta]

9/10 Absolutely squashes the City and its giant Gerken Pickle!! What ever happened to the family that started the whole building project in the "Docklands?"

[nick_taylor]

Malito - 6mn sqft is already built and 8.1mn sqft under construction with more planned

[Tazmaniadevil]

7.5 It's coming, but it's still too sparce to rate up with the best in the World.
If everything planned goes up, so will its score.

[Desven]

It's A Jewel Compared To London-city!

[Monkey]

Pic taken by Chest