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ILLUSTRATED REPORT | “WALKIE TALKIE” TOWER
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ILLUSTRATED REPORT
“Walkie Talkie” Tower
Design management 1
Word account: 2892
ILLUSTRATED REPORT | “WALKIE TALKIE” TOWER
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Abstract
This is an illustrated report of "Walkie Talkie" tower designed by Uruguay
architect Rafael Vinoly. This building is located at 20 Fenchurch Street in the
centre of London. Most of the controversial comments surrounding the building
are that whether the iconic building is a bad design because it has caused a
car melted and massive negative information about it. However, it does find
reliable literature to support the rationality of its existence. For this purpose,
the report aims to assess the value of the building, identifying two main
measures: economy and technology. Then a rigorous analysis was carried out
to conclude that "Walkie Talkie" tower indeed exists some shortcoming, but
there is no doubt that it has created massive economic benefits and given later
architecture lots of suggestions.
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Table of contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ 2
Table of contents ............................................................................................................................ 3
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 4
Critical Evaluation ........................................................................................................................... 5
Economy .......................................................................................................................................... 7
Technology .................................................................................................................................... 12
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 18
Figure list ....................................................................................................................................... 19
Reference List ............................................................................................................................... 21
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Introduction
This article is an analysis of the work of the Uruguay architect Rafael Vinoly,
the building named "Walkie Talkie" at 20 French Street in London. In 2004, the
architect Rafael Vinoly was appointed to design a brand new building to
replace an obsolete office tower in the heart of the City of London. It is an
easily recognizable tower in London because its appearance is totally different
from other ordinary architecture by enlarging the top part of the building
instead of the bottom (Thigale, 2015).
However, the "Walkie Talkie" on the 20 Fenchurch Street building became
known since the wrong reasons. It expected temperature was about 36
degrees, but its temperature of outside surface is above 72 degrees (Thigale,
2015). And massive articles and news have reported negative information
about the building including many aspects. As a result, the "walkie-talkie" has
been become a controversial building in London for several years.
This report contributes to the discussion by assessing the 2 measures of
“Walkie Talkie” building which consequently answers the question why this
iconic building exists in the heart of London city with reasonable reasons,
although the designer and the design have been attracting sustaining negative
remarks and take a critical evaluation about this controversial building.
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Critical Evaluation
The iconic building and public space design have received massive attraction
over the last ten years, because there is a huge change for not only the
individuals but also for the public (Mackith,2005). However, at the beginning of
the 70s, in the majority of European cities, both architectural and public
sentiment consider that there is nothing else should be permitted to break the
traditional concept about building in the heart of London city (Igal
Charney,2007). Hence, in terms of the high-rise building like "Walkie Talkie" or
"Gherkin" may be deemed to bad designs to some extent, especially when a
handful of information mentioned in academic articles and media. Therefore,
this iconic building in London named "Walkie Talkie" needs to be understood
and analyzed critically in many aspects, and these measurements mainly are
economy, technology.
The first measure - economy- is a crucial factor for the modern building in
every developed city. Within an increasingly competitive global environment,
the city of London is not the priority option on business location, and
international investors should be encouraged to invest to promote the
economy (Kaika, 2010). The most of contribution of the iconic building is to
enhance the economic effect, therefore, the iconic building is not only used to
attract the attention of the public but also has essential economic factors that
need to consider deeply. There is a strong link between the economy and
architecture design.
The last measure is technology because technology is the most important part
of commenting on a building, directly related to its rationality and security.
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Barry (2018) has mentioned the theory that is we need to use new measure to
identify the beauty of architecture. In this article, there will be a lot of
discussions, especially the technical advantages and disadvantages of this
topic and take a critical evaluation of the technology of buildings. By critical
analysis, there are various comments and examples.
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Economy
Kaika (2010) and Roberts (2017) holds a view that is the architectures in
London are not as symbols of London's international economic success. On
the other hand, Porter (2018) shares the totally different opinion that is these
iconic buildings contribute more than identifiers, as these can be regarded as
strengths and positive signal for prospective investors. So this section will
discuss how the economic factors affect the architectural design and then
exploring the consequent economic effects are caused by architectural design.
This part will analyze the influence of the economy on an architectural design
from the following points. Firstly, the proliferation of iconic architecture
happened during the moments of crisis after following a period of financial and
institutional despair (Kaika,2010). When London came out of recession, such
as "Walkie Talkie" tower and "Leadenhall", a new set of building start to
constructing in adjacent areas. In a whole city of London, 236 towers of over
20 storeys were either planned, under construction or finished (Roberts, 2017).
Hence, there is a fact that the economic environment does determine the
generation of buildings in developed places to some extent.
Secondly, the designer of "Walkie Talkie" tower, Vinoly said that his
curvaceous 37-storey tower 20 Fenchurch Street was originally designed with
horizontal sun louvres that would stop parts of glare strong sunlight to melt the
paint and parked vehicles, but those sun louvres were removed to cut costs
(Thigale,2015). As a result, the actual temperature is twice or more than the
expected temperature and caused a serious of troubles. Therefore, sometimes
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the economy and cost directly affect the integrity, safety and rationality of the
building.
Likewise, the architecture design has been affecting the economy constantly.
Firstly, good design actually can be regarded as a tool for promoting to
accommodate London's economic growth and attract investments. Especially
with the development of the economy, urban competitiveness is increasingly
fierce from all works of life. Hence, it is very necessary to build the
representative iconic buildings which have high level of design to make
London a great city to move in and one which is more charming. There is a
strong link between the good design to economic international investors to
help create a prosperous city. For instance, the "Walkie Talkie" was developed
alongside Land Securities and backed by sovereign wealth from China and
Qatar. They saved the building from its credit crunch doldrums.
Secondly, Good design can provide more office space, which means
increased employment opportunities can be given to business and company,
while London needs more office space to remain the centre of the world
economy (Roberts, 2017). Based on the research, the building is composed of
32 floors of top level office room, an excellent lobby, and the free for public
Garden at top of building with uninterrupted views of the whole city; landscape
gardens; its curved figure make it an extraordinary part to the skyline. As the
picture shows (figure1). (Rafael Viñoly Architects, 2013). Mainly because
the kind of exquisite and reasonable design, the whole building has
created the massive fortune. In fact, Buxton (2013) have said w hen the
"Walkie Talkie" complete in April 2014, the building will contain 61,000sq m of
offices up to the 34th floor as well as 1,200sq m of ground floor retail, plus the
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sky garden, which is intended to be a public space with bars and restaurants
served by its own dedicated lifts. Development costs for 20 Fen-church Street
will total £239 million. So far, with completion still a year away, office
accommodation is 56% pre-let. This picture can confirm this point (figure 2). It
can be seen that although the building is high consumption on the economy,
the economic benefits created are not trivial, and the benefits may be far
greater than the input in the near future. Likewise, there is another building
which is the Leadenhall building -- the tallest building in London. In terms of the
same aspect, enlarging the space, this building is its special tapering shape,
which the architects developed from the previous design stage as a response
to meet client’s expectation and the client's thought is to provide office space
that can be set in various ways. After the building built, the work chances have
been created and have some positive influence on local place. Apart from the
economic benefits by enlarging workspace and employment, the rents are a
huge amount because as long as it is a company that can move in, that means
the company with a strong economic strength. Hence, it is a fact that is good
design is significantly important for the local economy and even in
employment.
Figure 1. Sky Garden with views
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Figure 2. Structure diagram
The last point is good design could drive tourism development. For example,
the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao has become a cultural icon, designed by
the American architect Frank Gehry, rebuilt the entire city and creating tourism
(Evans 2003; Plaza 2000). Similarly, the “Walkie Talkie” tower has attracted
loads of tourists from all over the world, especially the At the top of the tower is
the sky garden, set over floors 35, 36 and 37, offering uninterrupted views
across London, completely free to the public to frolic and roam around. As a
result, it can be regarded as a tool to enhance the economic strength and
attractiveness. This picture can show this building attracts lots of tourists
(figure 3).
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Figure 3. tourists in the Sky Garden
Based on the above analysis of the relationship between economy and
architecture, it is obvious that the economic environment could determine the
location and scale of buildings before they was built. And after completing the
building, good design will bring a set of economic benefits. Hence, although
some of the comments refer to a view that iconic building does not mean the
success of London, just a symbol of local architecture. In this report, the
viewpoint is that there is a strong link between economy and building, they
affect each other. In addition, the "Walkie Talkie" tower is a positive example
and can bring some suggestion and lessons to the later iconic building in the
urban cities.
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Technology
In 2004, the famous Uruguay Architect designer named Rafael Vinoly
designed 20 Fenchurch Street, an energy-efficient and high-performance
building in the middle of the City of London (Thigale, 2015). Although Agudiez
confirmed that Hi-tech building's scale and flamboyant appearance make them
a perfect option to rebuilt neighbourhoods, show property and engineering
technique (Agudiez, 2015). On the other hand, both Parejo-Navajas (2015)
and Barry (2018) hold the same view that is there are some serious problems.
This part will be divided into three aspects to discuss. The first one is the
energy problem. Based on the research, different cultures could drive different
styles on the buildings' energy use in the world. In many parts of the world,
high-performance technological cooling systems have been utilized
capriciously, mainly due to the bad design, for instance, the so-called "Walkie
Talkie" building in London, the indoor climate is fully controlled by mechanic
systems which could increase the energy consumption demand significantly
directly (Parejo-Navajas, 2015). In contrast, the lower energy use buildings
and windows are operated by natural ventilation. And in terms of thermal and
lighting, there are also positive impacts than the high consumption buildings.
However, because of a Combined Cooling Heat and Power system, the
fuel cell reduces CO2 emissions intensively by almost 300 tons per year
(Rafael Viñoly Architects, 2013). Therefore, although many comments
have mentioned that the "Walkie Talkie" tower is a bad design on energy
consumption, there are indeed detailed data showing that is relatively
energy efficient.
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The second aspect will discuss exterior glare problem. Several studies and
reports have already addressed the potential danger of reflected sunlight from
highly reflective or specular building facades (Yong suk, Schiler, Kensek,
2016). The trouble caused by reflection is the main reason why 20 Fenchurch
Street in London has received massive discomfort. These pictures can show a
melted car (figure 4). As a matter of fact, there are some problems in other
buildings. For example, the Vdara Hotel in Las Vegas creates a serve
reflection problem from the south facades of this building, which has generated
a serious concern to the health and comfort of the hotel customers. Once one
hotel guest experienced severe thermal discomfort from the focus reflected
sunlight in the swimming pool deck areas. However, the manager of the hotel
decided to put a lager and thicker umbrellas on the pool deck to block the
strong sunlight reflection until a permanent solution was found. Other
examples include Walt Disney Concert Hall (WDCH), which is located in
downtown Los Angeles. Here is a picture can show the similar problem (figure
5). There are two similar visual glare issues, as shown in these examples, the
exterior glare problems exist but there is no methodology to solve and predict
problems (yong suk, schiler, kensek, 2016). Therefore, this problem can give
us a sustainable thinking.
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Figure 4. melting of the car because of the increased temperature
Figure 5. Walt Disney Concert Hall and reflected light
And the last aspect is the use of material, which refers to the advantages and
disadvantages of all-glass buildings by analysis of three examples. The author
Barry (2018) has demonstrated the two typical examples, which one of them is
Cornell Tech Tower, and another is "Studio Gang", Solar Carve Tower in New
York City. Through analysis of these building deeply, the main reason can be
attributed to overusing of glass. That being said, while the Solar Carve Tower
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has created the dynamic corner workplace, it is a question worth exploring that
whether its result can meet public satisfaction in this case. However, the
reviewer of this architecture and the decision section that permitted the design
hold the same opinion with each other, to some extent, the designer team with
slight professional knowledge of the energy performance. Here is a picture can
show the example (figure 6). Another logical question will arise, since the glass
has been used in large quantities, the aim of using this kind of glass whether
achieve the better thermal effect is an expectable result. After studying the
research by Dr John Straube, the result is the high-performance glass barely
rate above the normal one. Here is a picture to show the specific data (figure 7).
A lot of critics think that the design of this building is too optimistic, which was
finished in the beginning of 2014 and constantly received loads of complaint of
nearby all kinds of vehicles. Actually, a set of similarly designed all-glass
building is easy to collect (Barry, 2018). On the other hand, there is a lot of
advantages from the "Walkie Talkie" tower. The double-sides lifts has
maximize views because of the all-glass, and the curtain wall on the upper
floors of the one side façade extends to the roof louvres arched above,
providing broader urban view from the Sky Garden. In addition, the sun
shading will be given by both side of the building. Hence, the problem is an
existing fact, although the all-glass building prevails all over the world and it is
acceptable and reasonable if it is used in a proper way.
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Figure 6. Studio Gang
Figure 7. Dr John Straube/ RDH Building Science Inc
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While still achieving exemplary performance, for instance, architects in Austria
have already applied the all-glass curtainwall facade into an excellent
performance. In Vienna, the RHW 2 Raiffeisen Bank Tower (2013) by HD
Architekten was built between two older buildings that were rebuilt. It used
all-glass facade conceals a second skin beneath. After comparing the
difference, it illuminates a way whereby architects could keep their enthusiasm
on the field where they have interest.
All in all, technology plays a vital role in architecture. According to the in-depth
analysis above, "Walkie Talkie" building in London has many problems, such
as high energy consumption, strong sunlight reflection, excessive use of glass
and a series of negative reports. But there are still lessons to be learned, such
as sunlight pouring directly into office buildings and the design of "skyscraper
garden" to provide comfortable office space for employees. However, the
better state is that more and more professional and comprehensive designs
will emerge in the field of architecture design and bring some inspiration and
suggestion to later design.
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Conclusion
The aim of this article is to explain that "Walkie Talkie" tower is a reasonable
architecture in the centre of London both from the economy and technology,
"Walkie Talkie" tower is worthy of reference, should not only because of the
coverage of public opinion, one-sided evaluation of all aspects of a building.
Although at first the European citizens themselves disliked skyscrapers, think it
destroyed the local architectural style and the humanities landscape, but
designers conquer against the comments with delicate design, for most people
to see its existence is reasonable.
In this paper main body part, through examples, comparison, contrast,
analysis and other methods to explore the "Walkie Talkie" tower's economic
and technological features and contributions to society. The fact is, "Walkie
Talkie" tower is not only the outcome of the economic environment but then
also made many contributions to the economy, including providing more office
space, create more employment opportunities, obtain massive rents, promote
tourism attractiveness and drive international investments. All of these shows
the inseparable relationship between construction and the economy. In
science and technology, in this paper, through the analogy analysis, it is
concluded that "Walkie Talkie" tower indeed exists some shortcomings, but
there are also worth learning. All in all, although the building attracted a lot of
negative comments, to study the design of real effect, still can find a lot.
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Figure list
Image 1:Sky Garden with views
https://vinoly.com/works/20-fenchurch-street/
[Accessed on 10 November 2018].
Image 2:Structure diagram
The talk of the town text by Pamela Buxton
Image 3:tourists in the Sky Garden
https://vinoly.com/works/20-fenchurch-street/
[Accessed on 12 November 2018].
Image 4:melting of the car because of the increased temperature
CRITICISING MODERN ARCHITECTURE Nidhi Ajit Thigale
B.K.P.S. College of Architecture, Pune.
Image 5: Walt Disney Concert Hall and reflected light onto Promenade
condominium
Energy and Design Criticism
Is It Time for a New Measure of Beauty?
Image 6:Studio Gang, Solar Carve Tower, New York, due for completion
2019
Energy and Design Criticism
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Is It Time for a New Measure of Beauty?
Image 7:Dr John Straube/RDH Building Science Inc, Effective Wall
R-Value, 2017
Energy and Design Criticism
Is It Time for a New Measure of Beauty?
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Reference List
Agudiez, G. (2015) To what extent is it accurate to consider the
Carrasco airport as high-tech and what place does it occupy in the
modern architectural landscape?
Barry, B. (2018). Energy and Design Criticism: Is It Time for a New
Measure of Beauty?. Architectural Design, 88(1), 116-121.
Buxton P. (2013). The talk of the town. STEEL FOCUS 20 FENCHURCH
STREET
Charney, I. (2007). The politics of design: architecture, tall buildings and
the skyline of central London. Area, 39(2), 195-205.
Evans G 2003 Hard-branding the cultural city – from Prado to Prada
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 27 417–40
Facades, S. B. (2016).Is Exterior Glare Problematic?.
Parejo Navajas, T. (2015). The Energy Improvement of the Urban
Existing Building Stock: A Proposal for Action Arising from Best Practice
Examples.
Kaika, M. (2010). Architecture and crisis: re‐ inventing the icon, re‐ imag
(in) ing London and re‐ branding the City. Transactions of the Institute of
British Geographers, 35(4), 453-474.
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MacKeith,P.(2005) The dissolving corporation: contemporary
architecture and corporate identity in Finland EVA – Finn- ish Business
and Policy Forum, Helsinki
Plaza B 2000 Evaluating the influence of a large cultural artifact in the
attraction of tourism: the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao case Urban Affairs
Review 36 264–74
Porter, F. (2018). London has Fallen: A Case Study on Global City
Branding, Terrorism and Crisis Communication.
Roberts, M. (2017). Urban design, central London and the ‘crisis’ 2007–2013:
business as usual?. Journal of urban Design, 22(2), 150-166.
RAFAEL VINOLY ARCHITECTS (2018) Available at
https://vinoly.com/works/20-fenchurch-street/ [Accessed 10th November 2018]
Suk, J. Y., Schiler, M., & Kensek, K. (2016). Absolute glare factor and relative
glare factor based metric: predicting and quantifying levels of daylight glare in
office space. Energy and Buildings, 130, 8-19.
Thigale, N. A.(2015). CRITICISING MODERN ARCHITECTURE.
