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**Toby Gymshorts** · 03-09-2014, 09:46

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Are you in insurance then, gt3?

**hobbes** · 03-09-2014, 09:58

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I quite like that tesco building.
It looks like a space invader.

**Evariste Euler Gauss** · 03-09-2014, 10:12

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hideous indeed.

The fact that numerous people must have been involved in the design and approval of the building reminds me of a passage in Bill Bryson's "Notes from a Small Island" re some (apparently - haven't seen it myself) ugly modern addition to Merton College Oxford. Bryson notes that first, an architect has to design a building that "looks like an electric toaster", then the relevant Merton College committee has to think "hey, we've been putting up beautiful buildings for centuries, let's try an ugly one now", then finally the Oxford planning authority has to think along the lines "why not? plenty worse in Basildon".

**Fussbudget** · 03-09-2014, 10:25

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hobbes wrote: I quite like that tesco building.
It looks like a space invader.

So do I. It has a certain retro charm as well, like the designer was aiming for "mid-century brutalist with a twist".

The Walkie Talkie is fucking horrible, mind, as are almost all the high rises and new "luxury flats" mushrooming at the moment. Last time we were in London, sw2 and I got the boat from Westminster to Kew Gardens like proper tourists, and we could barely believe how much of the riverside is now covered in these hideous vanity projects.

**gt3** · 03-09-2014, 10:29

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Insurance Litigation Toby. I work for a firm of solicitors representing insurance companies in cases brought against them by people who have suffered catastrophic personal injuries.

I have to say that sitting here looking out across London does rather make me feel like some kind of Bonfire of The Vanities Master of The Universe. But the illusion is invariably broken when I get up from my desk and walk around the floor we're on. It's impossible to not look out any of the windows (the view of, not from, the Shard at this height is pretty cool). So I keep walking into walls and bumping into things!

**Toby Gymshorts** · 03-09-2014, 10:34

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Ah, I see. I was wracking my brain trying to recall if any underwriters I know are Villa fans. It appears that the answer is still 'none'.

**Lucia Lanigan** · 03-09-2014, 13:27

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Fussbudget wrote:

Originally posted by hobbes

I quite like that tesco building.
It looks like a space invader.

Last time we were in London, sw2 and I got the boat from Westminster to Kew Gardens like proper tourists, and we could barely believe how much of the riverside is now covered in these hideous vanity projects.

They are absolutely everywhere, and loads more are on the way. Oddly, I've found the bulkier, gawkier ones growing on me a bit. The Shart's pretty good, and the one everyone hates - Elephant and Castle's Strata Tower - I've ended up liking since I moved nearby. it's got a Nasa vibe that's quite good, and as the surrounding areas are relatively short on high-rise landmarks it makes quite a good navigation point.

**hobbes** · 03-09-2014, 14:15

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I like Strata Tower too.
Can't be doing with the Walkie Talkie or the Cheese grater though.
SE1 is now ground zero for huge new buildings. There are tons going up.

**Crusoe** · 03-09-2014, 14:47

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hobbes wrote: I like Strata Tower too.

Me too. Looks like something you'd expect to find in Marineville.

**blameless** · 03-09-2014, 14:49

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Put me down as a fan of the Strata too.

The Telegraph architecture critic quoted in the article Lucia linked to needs a good slap:

A skyscraper is an energy-greedy building form, both in terms of construction, and the power needed to take people to their front doors in a lift.

Whereas concreting over absolutely fucking everything between Oxford and Dover (the only way to meet demand for living and commercial space in the South-East without high-rises) would be so good for the environment, wouldn't it?

**ursus arctos** · 03-09-2014, 14:57

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The concentration of these in SE1 has made the view from The Oval more intriguing, particularly as they all tend to look quite different depending on the degree of light and cloud cover.

BTW, isn't it "carbuncle" with a "n" over there? It is here.

**Lucia Lanigan** · 03-09-2014, 15:09

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Yeah, that'll just be a tpo.

**WOM** · 03-09-2014, 15:09

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Nobody's come up with a derogatory descriptor for Strata Tower yet? (i.e.,gherkin, walkie talkie, cheese grater)

**gt3** · 03-09-2014, 15:11

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ursus arctos wrote: The concentration of these in SE1 has made the view from The Oval more intriguing, particularly as they all tend to look quite different depending on the degree of light and cloud cover.

BTW, isn't it "carbuncle" with a "n" over there? It is here.

D'oh!

**Fussbudget** · 03-09-2014, 15:16

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The Strata is the "Electric Razor", isn't it? Surprised to see so much love for it on here, it's horrible.

**blameless** · 03-09-2014, 15:17

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Those names aren't derogatory, they're a sign of affection. The Gherkin*, the Floozie in the Jacuzzi**, the Rusty Flasher***, the Armadillo**** - a building, statue or artwork hasn't been accepted in the UK until it's acquired a nickname.

*Officially it's called 30 St.Mary Axe. Yawn.
**"The River" in Birmingham
***The name most Geordies use to refer to The Angel of the North
****Glasgow's Clyde Auditorium

**ursus arctos** · 03-09-2014, 15:28

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I do believe that the Strata is the Electric Razor:

The Cheesegrater (122 Leadenhall Street) and Gherkin (30 St. Mary Axe, which is an awesome name to American ears)

The Walkie Talkie (20 Fenchurch Street)

**gt3** · 03-09-2014, 15:34

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The south side of 20 FS has netting draped over it. This is as a result of it melting cars and frying eggs on Eastcheap last summer. Death Ray building etc...

**hobbes** · 03-09-2014, 15:35

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The Walkie Talkie being the one with the solar death-ray attachment, of course.

edit: Beaten to the punch by GT3.

**blameless** · 03-09-2014, 15:36

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And just in case anyone thinks that's an exaggeration:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2409073/Walkie-Talkie-melted-Jag-Londons-Fenchurch-Street-skyscraper-melts-businessmans-car.html

**gt3** · 03-09-2014, 15:37

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It does all add to the Bond Villain-ness of being up here...

**ursus arctos** · 03-09-2014, 15:39

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Seriously, who could have foreseen that a curved mirrored surface of that size might be able to focus the sun's rays onto street level in a harmful manner?

Health & Safety gone mad, etc.

**treibeis** · 03-09-2014, 15:41

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Those names aren't derogatory, they're a sign of affection.

Do the locals really use these nicknames, or are they something you only read and hear in the media?

In Berlin, the Kongresshalle is, allegedly, "The Pregnant Oyster", the Fernsehturm "The Tele Asparagus" and the Funkturm "The Beanpole". There are probably dozens of others that I'm unaware of.

Yet my mate (resident in Berlin for 30 years) and his wife (lived in Berlin all her life) reckon the only Berliner they've ever heard use these terms were waving a company-branded microphone under a tourist's nose when they did so.

**blameless** · 03-09-2014, 15:44

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Do the locals really use these nicknames, or are they something you only read and hear in the media?

Not only do the locals use them, they use them a lot more than they use the official name.

Nobody, but nobody refers to this bridge as the Clyde Arc.

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