The Real Reason London's Skyscrapers Are Oddly Shaped - Cheddar Explains

the gherkin the cheese grater the shard these are the nicknames that londoners have affectionately given to some of their newest skyscrapers these quirky nicknames reflect their unusual shapes yes these styles were partly an aesthetic choice but something more concrete influenced their design [Music] during the early 1900s american skyscrapers paved the way for what tall buildings would look like for decades to come by mid-century the rectangular modern box design dominated skylines it wasn't until the 1950s that europe began scaling its structures to significant heights most were wider in profile and topless spires and most tended to be smaller than their north american counterparts london didn't start building skyscrapers to the 1980s tower 42 was completed in 1981. the london's first skyscraper stands at 600 feet and was designed to reflect the natwest bank logo which it was initially home to but it wasn't until 1991 that the next skyscraper was built at 800 feet one canada square remained the tallest building in the uk for 20 years during the 2000s london saw a dramatic increase in skyscrapers and now this is what the iconic london skyline looks like so why such unique designs well london streets play a role the city of london as i say is a historic center and it is based on a medieval plan which means small plots of land funny shaped plans and so that meant that the actual shape of the building was going to be impacted and london's skyline has also been a playground for experimental architects there was a chief planner in the city and his name was peter reece and he will admit that he would get bored very easily he didn't want to see the same old buildings turning up every time and he had quite a hand in pushing through interesting buildings while the skyline is partly a result of tight plots of land and innovative architects one building built 400 years ago has arguably been the most influential during the 17th century the london skyline mainly consisted of church spires the largest one being saint paul's cathedral at 460 feet tall it was a landmark of the city and a popular spot for gatherings such as speeches sporting events and trade but on a hot summer day in 1666 a fire broke out at a local bakery london had not seen rain for weeks and the blaze rapidly spread throughout the city efforts to contain the flames mostly failed and much of the city was destroyed including the iconic saint paul's cathedral the disaster is now known as the great fire of london but londoners sought to rebuild the city the construction of the new saint paul's began in 1675 and was completed in 1711. as development of the city continued the cathedral remained dominant on the london horizon then in 1861 the thule street fire killed the chief of fire this led to a call for a limit in building hype for fire safety however it wasn't the fear fire that made for the most change in 1889 workers completed construction on 130 foot tall residential building near buckingham palace it was viewed as a blemish on london skyline of chimneys and church spires queen victoria objected to it as a blocked review of buckingham palace following a stint of bad press the city established the london building act in 1894 stating that any new building should not be erected of or subsequently increased to a greater height of 80 feet exclusive of two stories and the roof but architects cleverly got around the height limitation by adding steps back from the facade to add an extra two or three stories reaching a total height of 100 feet and by the 1930s several buildings surpassed the 80 foot limit but people were picking up on this trick people like w godfrey allen allen was appointed surveyor to the saint paul's cathedral in 1931 and he wasn't too fond of the newly crowded skyline the view from blackfyre's bridge has been spoiled by the hideous new telephone exchange building in front of queen victoria street he put together a series of photographs that displayed how the london building act was limiting the views around the cathedral he then manipulated the photos to show what buildings of up to 100 feet would look like around saint paul's cathedral allen's argument resulted in a gentleman's agreement called saint paul's heights that would protect the vistas of the dome the agreement outlined eight corridors throughout london in which the cathedral is to be visible from one of these corridors allows the cathedral to be seen from king henry's mound 10 miles away according to the london views management network there are a total of 13 protected corridors that include other landmarks like the palace of westminster and the tower of london the agreement was officially put into practice in 1938 and later given policy status in 1989. in 1992 architect norman foster began designing a building called millennium tower however the original design was quite bulky and tall at 1265 feet concerns grew that would block out the protective views of saint paul's so foster scaled down the building to 590 feet and the design was changed completed in 2003 and now sits at 30 saint mary acts and is informally known as the gherkin due to its cucumber-like shape and while the original height was affected by saint paul's its unusual shape is attributed to an additional factor it was designed like that in order to allow the wind to uh come around it without creating uh very windy spaces at ground level so that that that was shaped uh very much by the climatic effects of that particular part of the city now the gherkin has become a defining part of the london skyline and residents regard it as an important landmark of the city in 2000 architects unveiled a proposal for a 1312 foot tower the building would pierce the london skyline with a pyramid-like shape but planes were slowed in 2003 when a public inquiry was launched in order to investigate the impact it would have on the corridors similar to the gherkin the height of the building would compete with the cathedral but the greater london authority gave it the go-ahead because of its unique shape that would allow for unobstructed views of st paul's the height was reduced from 1312 feet to 1016 feet the opaque exterior was a place with transparent glass and the pyramid-like shape stretched more vertically so that the top was as slender as possible the final design was placed tightly between two quarters in order to maximize a space and in 2013 the shard opened but perhaps one building was influenced more by saint paul's cathedral than any other the cheese grater the initial design it was a vertical building but as you look from a very specific point which is protected the view of the building and your view of the domest and paul's cathedral bumped into each other so it was thought that what they needed to do visually to separate out the dome from the tall building they came up with the idea of leaning the front of the building back so that as you look from a point in fleet street you would see the dome but you wouldn't see the building so that meant that you had a big triangular shaped building but london isn't the only city shaped by protected vistas vancouver canada has restrictions on buildings that preserve the views of the north shore mountains and in san francisco guidelines provide building height ranges depending on the topography in order to protect the views of open spaces and water unlike these cities london has no legal constraints it is only policy but this policy obviously still dictates construction in recent years there has been pressure to change the regulations set by saint paul's heights some question the continued importance of protecting the cathedral building's gain importance and lose importance throughout history state's annie hampston the former city of london planning officer and the gherkin is quickly gaining in importance critics also argue that the protective views prevent the construction of needed housing a 2018 study said 844 000 houses are needed in order to keep up with the growing population however others say newly relaxed laws would increase housing costs in theory it would price out locals and bring in rich foreign investors instead as london's skyscraper boom continues st paul's heights remains a deciding factor on their design the tulip first proposed in 2018 is one particularly controversial example although it was initially approved architects scrapped plans in 2019 an investigation found that the building would harm the protective views of the tower of london while also creating an unsafe pedestrian environment around the bottom of the tower now city planners have launched an appeal against the decision recently however the city did approve construction for a building that will potentially impede views a building dubbed the cheese grater 2 is planned a mere 656 feet away from the original teas crater despite backlash from saint paul's unlike the tulip the committee believed that the design of the cheese girder 2 was an exciting enough addition to the skyline so while controversies surrounding saint paul's heights still exist london seems to be leaving the door open for change what are your thoughts on london's oddly shaped skyscrapers are the views still important enough to remain protected in present day tell us in the comments below and make sure you hit that subscribe button and don't forget to click that notification bell to be the first to know when we post new videos

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Keywords: Cheddar, cheddar explains, cheddar explores, explainer, london, england, uk, united kingdom, skyscrapers, cities, cities skylines, buildings, tall buildings, construction, development, architecture, city planning, urban planning, city design, the gherkin, the shard, the cheesegrater london, cheesegrater, the walkie talkie building, design, skyline, skylines, st. paul's, st. paul's cathedral, london tourism, urbanism, world's tallest building

Id: pmwH_S2IvxY

Length: 10min 15sec (615 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 22 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/psychedelicnothing]

This was pretty interesting! I’m from NE England and I didn’t know any of that shit, although tbf I’ve never even been in the 27 years of my life