20 Fenchurch StreetThe 20 Fenchurch Street building in London is said to be a good example of bad architecture or a bad example of good architecture. There is always considerable interest in designers to construct buildings that stand out. It gives uniqueness to a building, improves its recognition, gains interest from the media and all that leads to short and long business benefits and of course, fame to the designer or the place. Everyone knows about I.M. Pei and Frank Gehry for the unique approach they took towards building design that lead to creation of numerous world famous attractions.
A unique creation is thus, always in the mind of a designer. However, striving for state of the art design concepts can lead designers to unventured territories. Uniqueness or a stand out feature is usually out of the books which means the consequences of design decision emphasizing such is largely unknown at the point of design. Careful consideration of all the new strings an out of the books design pulls needs to be emphasized so that any concept that can cause more problems than benefits can be avoided. |
Design Decision(s) |
The 20 Fenchurch Street Building is also known as the Walkie-Talkie building because of its distinctive shape. It was designed by architect Rafael Viñoly and was constructed in spring 2014. The building has 38 stories and is 525 ft. tall. The construction cost was north of $250 million. The building has three stories of sky garden at the top, which is one of its attractions. 14 double deck lifts give access to the main floors of the building.
The building has concave faces and non-linear rectangular shape overall. The south side of the building is ventilated externally to improve efficiency and decrease solar gain while the east and west side incorporate extensive solar shading. The building has a central concrete core with structural steel work around the core. It was originally planned to be nearly 656 ft. tall but the design was later scaled down to meet the concerns regarding visual impact on nearby St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London. The revised height was subsequently approved in 2006. |
Social Impact |
Two major concerns were raised regarding the building:
1) Solar ‘death ray’ reflection: The first of the major problems this building faced was the curved reflective façade of the building. It reflected a tremendous amount of light about a relatively small focal point. This generated sufficient heat to cook an egg and this caused damages in nearby parking spots in the form of melting car accessories for which the building authorities had to compensate the damages. The reflection of the beam was noted to be six times brighter than direct sunlight and reached temperatures up to 243°F. Thus the building was called a ‘’Walkie-Scorchie’’ and ‘’Fryscraper’’ by the public. As a temporary remedial measure, plans to erect screening on the streets were approved and the public were promised that a long-term solution was being researched. 2) Wind tunnel Effect Higher wind velocities are generated by a downdraught effect at the side of the building which then becomes an accelerated flow stream around the corner. This acceleration of wind is called the cornering effect. In addition, the building is considerably higher than surrounding buildings. The structure redirects air, which generates a downdraft flow that increases wind velocity and creates a vortex at street level. The combination of the downdraught, cornering and channeling effects generates a zone of high wind velocities at the building’s lower level. Winds like this over eight meters per second adversely affected pedestrians’ comfort. |
Resources
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19401493.2018.1538389
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329171945_Computer_simulation_of_sunlight_concentration_due_to_facade_shape_application_to_the_2013_Death_Ray_at_Fenchurch_Street_London
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/sep/06/walkie-talkie-architect-predicted-reflection-sun-rays
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_Fenchurch_Street
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Vi%C3%B1oly
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329171945_Computer_simulation_of_sunlight_concentration_due_to_facade_shape_application_to_the_2013_Death_Ray_at_Fenchurch_Street_London
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/sep/06/walkie-talkie-architect-predicted-reflection-sun-rays
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_Fenchurch_Street
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Vi%C3%B1oly