The Gherkin

The Gherkin


The Gherkin is a 41 story 180 m tall office building in the shape of an erect gun bullet in London, as designed by Norman Foster and Arup Engineers, whose construction started in 2001 and finished in 2003 by Skanska, the main contractor. The building is structured by using Trapezoidal stainless steel frames fabricated together to produce a cross helical bullet shaped building. The building appears as if it is extracting energy from earth and is ready shoot the sky. The outer shell of the building is covered with glass frames throughout the building. The building was constructed with energy saving systems such as natural ventilation system, as a result the power consumption of the whole building is half that of a similar sized building. Having a skyscraper status and owing to its design, The Gherkin is the most widely known contemporary architecture of London.

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