Named after the 18th century Italian painter whose most famous works depict lavish celebrations on the canals of his native Venice, Canaletto—the 31-story tower designed by Amsterdam's UNStudio—offers luxury, waterside living next to City Road canal basin in central London. 

The basin is part of the Regent's Canal in London, which has recently undergone a wave of redevelopment as industrial-age structures are transformed into new homes and waterfront apartments and loft-style workspaces begin to spring up. Marginally cheaper than a view of the Thames, the nine-acre City Road Basin, in particular, is regenerating into a landscaped new quarter with businesses, leisure space, marina and boat club, and 900 homes, of which Canaletto will be providing 190.

Units in the recently completed tower range in price from £475,000 for studios to £660,000 for one-bedroom units and £790,000 for two-bedroom units. 3 bedroom apartments start at £3.2 million and the crown jewel, a two-story penthouse with its own private deck, is going for £13.5 million. Included in the price tags are access to shared amenities such as a swimming pool, health club, media room and resident’s club lounge with a terrace on the 24th floor.

One of the stated goals for the design was to establish a group of vertical communities, a concept closely aligned with their research into ideas of 'Superliving,' which their recently completed Raffles City Hangzhou in China similarly employed, albeit on a much larger scale. To do so, the design employs the concept of clustering several floors together by contrasting materials to create a modeled elevation in which clusters of adjacent floors are grouped together.

"In a residential building, we want residents to really feel like they are part of a unique work of architecture, something that is identifiably theirs" said UNStudio co-founder Ben Van Berkel. "This is why the design of Canaletto really emphasizes this clustering of different floors – small communities that are visibly unique from other nearby towers” he added.