New City, same old boxes, plus a gherkin and other cool new buildings

A new exhibition in London called New City Architecture reviews recent and proposed building projects, many of them very tall. I haven't been to the exhibition, but here are some thoughts on the images presented on its website.

First, the bad. 10 Gresham Street is a cube with squarish elements and a rectangular tower, the whole covered in gun-metal cladding. Charming. Looks like a Lego construction. If Lego came with gun-metal cladding, of course.

New Street Square sounds lovely, but doesn't seem to have a square, and the streets look like they are little more than crevices at the bottom of a canyon made of, again, Lego.

Plantation Place. What is it with the names of London buildings? They often sound so romantic and look so bleak. Two square glass tower blocks atop a glass square is what this looks like. Again, the kind of thing five year-old boys can 'design' in about 30 seconds using shoe boxes.

Enough griping, it's too easy. Now here's the inspiration: Norman Foster's 'gherkin' at 30 St Mary Axe is what MYO is all about. Yes, it looks kind of like a pickle. Yes, it stands out like a sore thumb, but that's because there are so many bland, inhuman skyscrapers in London. Breathtaking, and with a small footprint, since its base is narrower than its middle.

The Millennium Bridge, again by Foster (hmmm...maybe this chap understands what designing for humans is all about) is as elegant as a stork leaning down into the water. So easy to do wrong and so easy to do right.

1 London Wall is distinctly modern. It has glass facades (incidentally, reflecting an impossibly blue sky, at least for the London I know!) but it also has curves, both concave and convex. I actually thought this was by a different architect than Foster, but when I checked the link I realized that it wasn't and that this post must read like a Norman Foster Fan Club missive. So be it - I judge 'em how I see 'em. And so do other normal human beings.

The skyline of London is being rebuilt by Lego-wielding 5-year old boys (see also the Minerva Building and 88 Wood Street) and Norman Foster. The local debate shouldn't be about how high these new buildings are, but what they look like and how they make people feel.