The Gherkin

[guinnessdrinker]

An article in the Indie on Sunday has described that new tower block ususlly reffered as "the Gherkin" as "the detumescing intromittent organ of a baboon". what would be your description?

[drfranni]

During the day it seems to merge in with all the other dull buildings. But at night.....

....it becomes a fairly wonderland, a giant sparkly gherkin, the mystical shiny gherkin palace where the Queen of the Gherkins sits in her shimmering emerald throne, her dress contructed of thousands of petals cut from crisp packets and edged with pickled onions

As night falls, the lights twinkle on and pub snacks of all descriptions gambol in her glittering Court. When daylight comes, the gherkin shrugs off its nocturnal glamour and only a pervading smell of pickling vinegar betrays the night's events to contruction workers

[Mrs Magpie]

That caused one of my 'snorting tea down nose with laughter' moments. How can you have such sharp humour on a Monday morning? I want to know your secret drfranni................

[secretsquirrel]

legal access to perscription drugs?

;) :p

[Sunray]

How many Gherkins have you seen that are that shape, silver and glass.

Now Dildos on the other hand.....

Sunray

[drfranni]

Cruel people have accused me of being obsessed with the Gherkin, to which I can only reply, everytime someone says they don't believe in the Gherkin, a cocktail onion dies.

ANYWAY.....

Last night I got confirmation from IntoStella and my son (unimpeachable sources) that the Gherkin is now green. Closer up, it looks green and blue.

So what's the deal, have they filled it with fairy lights? At night it now looks like the biggest crimmus tree in London

[mains]

yeah, looks like an attempt at 'christmas tree type action' with green and blue lights, looked really good coming into london bridge on the train - for a glass Gherkin like...

[Cloo]

I thought it was 'the erotic gherkin'? I rather like the erotic gherkin as a building actually.

[drfranni]

http://images.thisislondon.co.uk/v2/news/_front/gherkinlights281102_100x110.jpg

Hee hee - I'm not mad after all - there is going to be a big pretty lights thing this evening when they add the last girder

I was entertained to read elsewhere that they haven't sold most of it yet. If they had asked me, I could have explained it was hardly polite to try and displace the Fairy Gherkin Queen and her extensive court

But they never DO ask me.....

[RubyToogood]

Just bumping this thread because I saw it for the first time when I was pruning the other day and it made me roar with laughter. :)

[editor]

It's by far one of the most exciting and original buildings in London - I love it!

http://www.urban75.org/photos/london/images/lon534.jpg

[the B]

If you go onto Brick Lane and look towards the Gherkin, there's a spot where you can take a rather powerful photo. I've got to actually take the photo someday and I'll post it.

[Pie 1]

I think it bloody fucking fantastic!
Btw, an architect friend of mine was telling me how they are all preoccupied to the point of fear about what the press/ public will dub the're creations once they are unveiled. Foster must have seen this one coming though!

[blossie33]

I love it too!! I normally hate most new buildings but there's something about the Gherkin. Seemed like it suddenly appeared out of nowhere - a friend and I had been out at a party all night and we were looking for some food in the Liverpool Street area and suddenly, there it was, almost like a spaceship just landed.

[chegrimandi]

its a work of genius, beautiful at night and in the day.....I hope you can go in and visit it once its fully opened.....:)

[poster342002]

When the Millenium Bridge opened it had wobble and was nicknamed the WibblyWobbly Bridge, if I remember correctly. Now, I think syscrapers have some kind of safety mechanism which allows them to sway a little in the wind to prvent the top parts sheering off in high winds. If so, does this mean that this new skyscraper can be nicknamed "The Jerking Gherkin":D :p

I thank you!:D

[Oxpecker]

Originally posted by chegrimandi
its a work of genius, beautiful at night and in the day.....I hope you can go in and visit it once its fully opened.....:)

You're right, it's a fabulous building whether reflecting light or generating it's own. My brother in law was one of the structural engineers in charge of construction and I turned down the offer of a visit a while back. I'm kicking myself now, though.

I believe there will be a restaurant at the top, but I don't suppose I'll be able to afford it :(

[poster342002]

Truth be told, I'm not keen on it. It does look rather vulgar. Personally, I don't think that a giant prick standing on end in the middle of London is especially pleasing to the eye. :p

[hatboy]

Originally posted by editor
It's by far one of the most exciting and original buildings in London - I love it!

http://www.urban75.org/photos/london/images/lon534.jpg

Agree totally. I love it too.

Poster - it's not vulgar, it's beautiful. And anyway does everything in this conservative-minded country have to be understated? You're just like a certain right Royal Charlie.

"vulgar" - boring snob!

[swampy]

i'm dissapointed that hey didn't continue the swirly glass pattern all the way to the top.

Bitterly :D

[poster342002]

hatboy,

Believe it or not, I do actually like modern buildings. Despite it being a monument to the Thatcher regime, the Canary Wharf tower and complex looks very nice. Pyongyang, capital of North Korea, also looks very impressive despite being the dream of dictator Kim Il Sung.

An erect cock in the middle of the city just looks a bit, well... silly in my opinion.

EDIT for spelling.

[hatboy]

But it doesn't look like a cock! You must either have, or look at, some crazy cocks man.

It's way more interesting looking than Canary Wharf too.

[poster342002]

hatboy,

Oh, well. Each to their own, I guess.;)

Here's some links to photo's of Pyongyang's buildings:

http://www.korea-dpr.com/mayday.htm

http://www.korea-dpr.com/partcity.htm

http://www.korea-dpr.com/ice.htm

Impressive, I think.

[hatboy]

Now I think they're too concrete and 60s looking.

[Blagsta]

I think its fab :D

[butterfly child]

It is fucking ace

[editor]

Originally posted by poster342002
http://www.korea-dpr.com/mayday.htm
http://www.korea-dpr.com/partcity.htm
http://www.korea-dpr.com/ice.htm

1. Weird ugly spider
2. Sub-Corbusier ugly concrete tower blocks
3. Rip off of Liverpool's Roman Catholic Cathedral!

http://tinyurl.com/jtbt

The Gherkin kicks ass!

[Mrs Magpie]

I've been to a wedding in the Catholic Cathedral in Liverpool. The morning sun came in through one of the stained glass windows, putting beams of coloured light across the interior and it was so beautiful I nearly cried. All Liverpudlians I know call it the Paddy's Wigwam (they're all Catholics, I have no idea what Liverpool Protestants call it).

[Belushi]

I think its a great addition to Londons skyline, so many contemporary buildings are bland at best and often downright offensive; IMO its an attractive and interesting addition to our City.

[pooka]

Originally posted by Mrs Magpie
Ithey're all Catholics, I have no idea what Liverpool Protestants call it).

I think the Mersey Funnel is an alternative. I had a look in there very early on in the building of it (that's how old I am!). There were no furnishings, just an altar. The light through the lantern was breathtaking.

Oh, and the gherkin's a belter. A modern building that's not a combination of boxes - what vision.

[Cloo]

Tis nothing more than verily, an erotic gherkin, as has been suggested. I rather like it...

[wiskey]

i really like it. i think it was really cool when it was lit up green and purple last winter. it used to signify coming back to reality after a weekend partying in north london, back to liverpool st and real life. but i think its quite majestic just standing there.

:)i havent seen it for a few months. i'll have to look out for it when i'm next up.

[the B]

I can see it outside my window at work - it loses appeal when you see it that much. It is cool though.

[academia]

:)

[ninthcouncil]

Originally posted by academia
looks nice, but i'm surprised urbanites applaud this icon of capitalist greed. :rolleyes:

You might just as well say that an artist who lives an immoral life can't produce great work.

If we reject great buildings because they are the product of social systems we disapprove of, we won't have many left to like. Would you dismiss, say, St. Paul's simply because it's a church?

And yes, the gherkin is a welcome addition to London's skyline. It looks great looming up in the mid-distance when looking down Holborn.

[Blagsta]

Originally posted by academia
looks nice, but i'm surprised urbanites applaud this icon of capitalist greed. :rolleyes:

What a dull thing to say. People are merely commenting on the building not on what will go on inside it.

[academia]

:)

[Blagsta]

Originally posted by academia
so as long as things look pretty it doesn't matter who built them or what they stand for?

Oh stop being so po-faced.

[jaed]

I live right by the Gherkin, and usually see it most days. To me always signifies home as well. If I'm on a plane over London I can usually spot it, and then work out where I'm living.

[ketmania]

how long has this been there???

i know it's been a while since i've been to east London, but i didn't even know they had started building it until i was driving towards Bethnal Green yesterday. :eek:

i like it.

lots.

anything which resembles food = good. :D

[Jazzz]

It is quite extraordinary to see this...err... building from Stoke Newington/Dalston, because as you look down the A10 - there it rises, smack bang in the centre.

No coincidence, IMHO, this is how the freemasons design their occult phallic monuments. It is shagging those to the North, to Stokey and beyond!

[spiralx]

Originally posted by ketmania
anything which resembles food = good. :D
One pork pie-shaped building coming up ;)

[guinnessdrinker]

walking down the old kent road, I noticed it has acquired 2 red eyes. is this where Big Brother (for ignoramuses, the book not channel 4) will live?

[bromley]

For anyone intressted i've written an article (http://www.georgepackman.bravehost.com/Architecture.html) featuring the gherkin on my site. Not the best but i enjoyed doing it. :p

[sleaterkinney]

I was entertained to read elsewhere that they haven't sold most of it yet. If they had asked me, I could have explained it was hardly polite to try and displace the Fairy Gherkin Queen and her extensive court

But they never DO ask me.....They are having real trouble filling the top floors as well, Swiss Re had planned to move in there but ........

It's being opened up as part of london open house this weekend.

http://www0.bbc.co.uk/london/yourlondon/open_house/openhouse_list.shtml

[Ozymandias]

Truth be told, I'm not keen on it. It does look rather vulgar. Personally, I don't think that a giant prick standing on end in the middle of London is especially pleasing to the eye. :p

I never actually thought about it looking like a penis before. The only vulgar thing here is the minds of people who think a tall building looks like a cock.

[guinnessdrinker]

It's being opened up as part of london open house this weekend.

http://www0.bbc.co.uk/london/yourlondon/open_house/openhouse_list.shtml

apparently, it's had to be shut because there were too many people queuing, yesterday, according to the indy, this morning.