Photo of the day: The Gherkin, London

The Chrysler Building, New York City, Art Deco Masterpiece

Statistics

• Constructed 1928-1930
• Height to spire - 318.9m (1,046ft)
• 77 floors
• Floor area 1,1950,000 sq ft (111,000 sq m)
• 32 elevators
• Designed by architect William Van Alen

The Chrysler Building is arguably the most endearing and distinctive buildings in New York City and after 80 years remains a favourite of many New Yorkers and skyscraper enthusiasts. It's original design drew inspiration from machine technology for the ornamental detail and architect William Van Alen incorporated abstract images of cars whilst dramatically drawing the observer to eight streamlined eagle head gargoyles which point out in four opposing directions across the city. The original design for the crown, which was supposed to be a sparkling glass crown, was said to be too costly. This boggles the mind when you consider that instead the Chrysler is capped with the most instantly recognisable and adored art deco crown in the world today which, along with the gargoyles, is able to send the observer off into the sci -fi world of Gotham City and superheroes.

The Chrysler Building was the tallest building in the world when it was completed until it was surpassed by the Empire State Building. It does however remain the world's tallest steel supported brick building and was built on the site of the city's largest beer brewery, the Bloomingdale Brewery. Initially it was intended to be an office development by real estate developer and former New York State Senator William H.Reynolds who sold the building to Chrysler as a result of the economic downturn before the building was redesigned. In other words, the Chrysler as we know it is a relic of the Great Depression, perhaps that is why the gargoyles were incorporated - historically they were used to scare off harmful spirits.

The Chrysler building's design pushed boundaries when it was designed and for many it is a building which has style that has still not been surpassed even in today's skyscraper abundant world. This is summed up wonderfully by the cheek of Chrysler, who it was reported instructed his builders to make sure they built the highest toilet in Manhattan so that he was "able to sit on his porcelain throne and shit on Henry Ford and the rest of the world. "

122 Leadenhall, The City, London. Cityscape Digital animation

This wonderful video shows how 122 Leadenhall in London will fit into it's surrounding once constructed.

The 10 best restaurants in London and New York City

The S.Pellegrino World's Best Restaurants for 2010 list has a number of entries from London and New York. Extracted into this list are the top 10 best restaurants in London and New York with the S.Pellegrino ranking in brackets.

1. Daniel, New York City(8)

www.danielnyc.com

2. Per Se, New York City(10)

www.perseny.com

3. Le Bernardin, New York City(15)

www.le-bernardin.com

4. Momofoku Ssam Bar, New York City(26)

www.momofuku.com

5. St.John, London(43)

www.stjohnrestaurant.co.uk

6. Hibiscus, London(49)

www.hibiscusrestaurant.co.uk

7. Eleven Madison Park, New York City(50)

www.elevenmadisonpark.com

8. Jean Georges, New York City(52)

www.jean-georges.com

9. Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley, London(58)

www.the-berkeley.co.uk

10. Zuma, London(66)

www.zumarestaurant.com

London and New York top world's best department stores

The Global Department Store Summit(GDSS) was held in New York this year from 10-11 June. Participants included top executives from over 280 stores worldwide with Selfridges in London taking the title of world's best department store followed by Bloomingdales in New York City. Lane Crawford in Hong Kong came in third. Criteria which were assessed included strength of brand, innovation, in store experience, customer service and financial results.

Selfridges

Harry Gordon Selfridge founded Selfridges and is widely credited with coining the expression "the customer is always right". Techniques for marketing at Selfridges are techniques that were adopted by department stores all over the world such as placing the highly profitable perfume counters at the front of the store in the middle. Unusual and interesting exhibits were also features which attracted shoppers to come back to the shop. In 1909, Louis Bleriot's monoplane was exhibited in Selfridges after it's first cross channel flight. Innovation in bold marketing is epitomised by Selfridges world famous window displays which have been pored over by photographers for generations and published in many magazines worldwide including Vogue, Design Week, Harpers Bazaar and the New York Times. 1-27 April 1925 saw the first public demonstration of the television which was given from the first floor of Selfridges by John Logie Baird. Selfridges stores are also known for their architectural excellence and the London flagship store was designed by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham who also designed the Marshall Fields department store in Chicago.

Bloomingdales

Window displays also became a trademark of Bloomingdales with many imported European products used as a centrepiece to elaborate theatrical backgrounds. Another trademark is the small medium and large brown bags which have became a part of a shopping trip to Bloomingdales from 1973. Bloomingdales target market became the affluent young professional classes in New York and around the same time as the brown bag was brought into use, many expensive designers were supplying the store. Famously, in 1976 traffic was reversed on Lexington Avenue so that Queen Elizabeth II could exit her vehicle on the right hand side and enter the store through the main entrance.

Photo of the day: Shard under construction in London

A wonderful angle of the Shard under construction from the end of October

Hearst Tower, New York City, distinctive and sustainable

Statistics

• Constructed 2003-2006
• Height 597ft (182m)
• 46 Floors
• 80,000 sqm (861,100 sqft)
• Architect Foster & Partners

The Hearst Tower was the first tower to break ground in New York City after September 11th, 2001. It was also the first green skyscraper in the city shifting building technology in New York into a new era and became the city's first LEED Gold designated building (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). The building features a tank in the basement which stores rainwater collected from the roof which is used for the cooling system, plant irrigation and also in the water sculpture in the main lobby. It's diagrid triangular framed design even uses about 20% less steel than conventionally designed and constructed skyscrapers. Water is circulated under the flooring through polyethylene tubing for cooling in the summer and heating in the winter.

The atrium of the Hearst Tower is befitting of a corporation whose publications include magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Harpers Bazaar and Marie Claire and you could be forgiven for thinking the atrium was part of an elaborate art gallery. The escalators run through 'Icefall' which is a 3 storey water sculpture featuring thousands of glass panels which cools and humidifies the air in the lobby and is complemented by a 70 ft tall painting called 'Riverlines' by Richerd Long making the Hearst Tower a truely unique building for Hearst employees and visitors.

Top of the Rock, The Rockefeller Center, New York City

By 1939, The Rockefeller Center was attracting more than 125,000 visitors everyday. In it's own right it would have been the 51st largest city in the US. The "city within a city" was the defining creation of John D Rockefeller Jr, a complex of 19 commercial buildings which covers 22 acres and is now a declared National Historic Landmark. The site was originally earmarked for the development of an opera house with the formation of a syndicate which included the Metropolitan Opera. The stock market crash led to the withdrawal of the Opera and for Rockefeller to fund the new project entirely from his own pocket and not without risk. The original project comprised 14 buildings with a further 5 being added during the 1970s.

On May 17th 1930 construction began of the original 14 buildings which were designed in the art deco style which has become synonymous with many New York City buildings and when opened in May 1933, although not entirely finished, was true to the designing team's belied that art was the act of good citizenship. Included in the complex was the Radio City Music Hall which was marketed as the largest and most opulent music hall in the world. The music hall's interior is one of the world's greatest examples of art deco and after a slow start became the city's largest attraction, seating over 6,000 people in the music hall itself.

The largest building in the complex is the 872ft tall skyscraper at 30 Rockefeller Plaza (GE Building) which was the setting for the original "lunchtime atop a skyscraper" photograph showing construction workers having their lunch on a steel girder. The building's observation deck "Top of the Rock" is a major tourist attraction on the top of a building which is the headquarters of NBC and houses most of the network's New York studios and hosted many well known television shows including Late Night with David Letterman.

The Center avoided major controversy in the mid 1930's when rather ironically, Ivy Lee, who is largely credited with the founding of public relations, attempted to rent the last of the four European buildings out to German commercial interests until Jr put the brakes on the deal learning of the Nazis march towards war. The building subsequently house the US operations of British intelligence with room 3603 becoming the principle operations centre for allied intelligence.

The Center has become one of the best loved destinations in New York City never at anytime more than Christmas with the famous Christmas tree lighting ceremony always attended by well known names and the ice rink offering visitors the chance to get involved in one of the city's favourite winter pastimes.

http://www.rockefellercenter.com/

10 Tallest skyscrapers in London

A list of the 10 tallest skyscrapers in London compiled from skyscraperpage. This list includes only buildings that have 'topped out' and not others under construction with all heights to spire.

1. Heron Tower - 242m (794ft)*

2. One Canada Square - 235.1m (771ft)

3= 8 Canada Square (HSBC) - 199.5m (655ft)

3= 25 Canada Square (Citigroup) - 199.5m (655ft)

5. Tower 42 - 183m (600ft)

6. 30 St. Mary Axe - 179.8m (590ft)

7. Broadgate Tower - 164.3m (539ft)

8. One Churchill Place - 156.4m (513ft)

9= 25 Bank Street - 153m (502ft)

9= 40 Bank Street - 153m (502ft)

Heron Tower has topped out and is still undergoing the internal fit out.

10 Tallest skyscrapers in London and New York City

This list is a clean sweep for New York. Not suprisingly all ten of the top ten tallest skyscrapers in London and New York are in New York City - all heights include height to the tip of the spire on buildings. Information compiled from skyscraperpage. This list does not include skyscrapers that are currently under construction. There is a separate list for the ten tallest buildings in London.

1. Empire State Building, New York City - 443.2m (1,454ft)

2. Bank of America Tower, New York City - 365.8m (1,200ft)

3. Chrysler Building, New York City - 318.9m (1,046ft)

4. New York Times Tower, New York City - 318.8m (1,046ft)

5. American International Building, New York City - 290.2m (952ft)

6. 40 Wall Street, New York City - 282.5m (927ft)

7. Citigroup Center, New York City - 278.9m (915ft)

8. Trump World Tower, New York City - 262.4m (861ft)

9. GE Building (Rockefeller Center), New York City - 259.1m (850ft)

10. CitySpire Center, New York City - 248.1m (814ft)

New Bus for London based on old routemaster

The Mayor of London unveiled the design for the new London bus in May this year.

The Shard, London

Statistics

• Completion due May 2011
• Height 1,017ft (310m)
• 87 Floors
• 1,199,000 sqft (111,400 sqm)
• Architect Renzo Piano

The Shard at London Bridge is to be the centrepiece of what will be known as the London Bridge Quarter, a large regeneration project around London Bridge station. The project was the brainchild of London developer Irvine Sellar, although nowadays, halfway through the tower's construction, the project is being backed by a Qatari consortium with Sellar Properties owning a much smaller stake in the project. The birth of The Shard as a project was a result of Irvine Sellars trip to Berlin to meet the architect Renzo Piano and discuss what would be built on the site of the old Southwark Towers site, which had previously been occupied by a non descript 24 storey 1970s office building. The design was initially and notoriously scribbled on to the back of a napkin at lunch and considering Piano's dislike for tall buildings, it is a miracle that The Shard is to become the tallest building in the European Union once it is finished.

The Shard is a multi purpose skyscraper which will feature office space, restaurants, residential apartments, viewing galleries as well as an open air observation deck and a Shangri-La hotel on floors 31-50. The sophisticated use of glazing in the building with expressive facades of angled panels will created the illusion of the building changing with the seasons and the weather. Piano likened the design as being like a Shard of Glass. One thing is for certain, as modern skyscrapers go, The Shard is elegant in design and delicate in it's appearance on the London skyline as the city's first supertall building. This film shows the impact the building will have on London once completed.

Conde Nast Building, 4 Times Square, New York City

Statistics

• Constructed 1995-2000
• Height 247m (809ft)
• Height to spire 348m (1,143ft)
• 48 floors
• 149,000 sqm (1,600,000 sqft)
• Architects Fox & Fowle

With it's industrial features and it's intricately busy location, New York City could almost have been built around the Conde Nast building, being a common feature in popular culture such as the film Battlestar Galactica and computer game Grand Theft Auto IV. However, behind the industrial machismo of the skyscraper lies a fully integrated green design to a building which initially raised concerns over the impact it's size would have on Times Square. The building does not need to be heated or cooled for most of the year due to the operation of environmentally friendly gas fired absorption chillers along with a high performing insulating and shading curtain wall.

Interestingly, and in the shadow of 11th September, the mast of the building was replaced between 2002 and 2003 to support television and radio broadcasters as a back up transmission site so that work could be completed to relocate those displaced by the destruction of the World Trade Centre to the Empire State Building without disruption to existing FM tenants at the ESB. The new mast which is 91m (300ft) makes the Conde Nast building the third tallest structure in NYC.

Another instantly recognisable feature of the Conde Nast building and what makes it one of the most documented buildings at street level is the 10-story video wall on the NASDAQ Marketsite which provides market data, financial information and advertising. Saco Technologies Inc. (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) provided NASDAQ with it's 1,000 sqm, $37m Smartvision screen. Saco CEO Gary Nalven says, "The NASDAQ building's LED screen has become a fantastic symbol of the financial community in some ways replacing the Wall Street image of it's Roman column building. A day doesn't go by in Times Square where NASDAQ isn't being photographed or videoed by the international media as a backdrop for their reporters."

HSBC Tower, 8 Canada Square, London

Statistics

• Constructed 1999-2002
• Height 200m (656ft)
• 45 floors
• 102,190sqm (1,100,000sqft)
• Architect Foster & Partners

Sir Norman Foster designed HSBC's previous global headquarters at 1 Queen's Street, Hong Kong, therefore it was only right that he was chosen to design a building that would pull together all of HSBC's scattered sites around the City of London to create an iconic global headquarters in London's Docklands. HSBC's environmental principles fitted in with Foster & Partners experience and passion for designing buildings that champion energy efficient systems; the building features recyclable furniture and equipment.

HSBC became carbon neutral in 2005 and in 2008 the skyscraper became the tallest building in Europe to feature solar panels and the largest installation of photovoltaic panels on a corporate office in London, which are fixed to withstand wind speeds of up to 140mph. The panels will generate about 1,550,000 kilowatt hours of green energy over the buildings lease which is enough to power 20 average size UK homes every year. Simon Martin, Head of Group Corporate Sustainability, said about the installation,"This installation shows innovation and demonstrates that renewable technologies of this scale can be delivered successfully. If every headquarter building around the world invested in solar panels, it would significantly increase the transition towards a low carbon economy and we hope to become a catalyst for this."

The tower has also been good to the balance sheet for HSBC. In April 2007 it became the first building in the UK to be sold for more than £1bn when it was sold to Metrovacesa before taking ownership in December 2008 and posting a £250m gain from the agreement. In December 2009 it was then sold to South Korea's National Pension Service for £772m. The bank will be paying rent of £46m a year for the next 17 years having freed up capital.

Message to Readers

Just a quick message to thank everyone that has taken the time to read my blogposts. I think people have enjoyed the content and a number of people seem to have voted on the building poll to the right. Don't forget also there is a facebook page which is in it's infancy but some people have already 'liked'. I am aiming to keep the content varied but based on architecture, the built and business environments of both cities whilst keeping a competitive edge to it and also keeping it simple so each post is a bite size piece of information which is quick to read or watch. Please keep reading and I would love to hear if anyone has any suggestions for content which will keep readers engaged.

The Pinnacle, London

Following on from 17/08/10, the core of the Pinnacle has just started to rise - this short video documents how the London skyline is about to change -

New York's Future Cityscape

London's Future Cityscape

The Bishopsgate Tower, The City's tallest skyscraper under construction.

Business in London has long been spread over vast areas of the City backed up with excellent transportation from the tube network and bus system which has led to polycentricity instead of the CBDs seen in more modern cities. This has meant over the years London has not needed to build tall, unlike New York. Good thing too considering the heavy constraints governing the height of buildings which has stopped commercial developers from really making hay in London.
In the early '90s however Docklands in the East End emerged as an area which would threaten to lure many big businesses away from the City with competitively priced and highly specified buildings, forcing the City of London Corporation to ease planning regulations to allow developers to compete with what Docklands had to offer and keep business in the City.
The results of these regulation changes are beginning to reshape the City and the Bishopsgate Tower is now about to start appearing on the skyline as the tallest building in the City at 945ft (288 metres) and 63 floors high. The Tower which is also known as The Pinnacle has been designed by New York headquartered architects Kohn Pedersen Fox stating ,"the tower has been designed to incorporate complex tapered geometry - resolved through advanced computational parametric modelling - comprising inwardly inclined planar surfaces, which are linked by conical surfaces. The design of the entrance canopy at it's base responds to the immediate context, creating a zone at the foot of the tower similar in height to nearby buildings."
The tower also incorporates sustainable systems into the design including more solar panelling than any other building in the UK, with 21,500 sqft (2,000 sqm) of photovoltaic solar cells generating upto 200 watts of electricity. The glass facade will be made of two layers of clear glass with an inner and outer skin allowing the building to utilise climate control with low energy consumption. Once completed the tower will contain just under 1 million sqft (approx. 88,000 sqm) of office space and will include a four floor restaurant, coffee shop and public viewing gallery at the top.
Steelwork is now underway, the core is about to rise and delivery is expected in May 2012.