In a defeat for Foster + Partners, London mayor Sadiq Khan has rescinded municipal approval for the 997-foot Tulip tower the architects had proposed for the city's Square Mile high-rise district.
Architect's Journal reports that a spokesperson for the mayor's office said that the tower's design was "of insufficient quality for such a prominent location," and that if built, the bulbous monolith "would result in harm to London’s skyline and impact views of the nearby Tower of London World Heritage Site."
The spokesperson added that the proposal, as currently articulated, would create "an unwelcoming, poorly-designed public space at street level.
The tower, which is being developed by J Safra Group, received preliminary approval from the City of London's planning and transportation committee in April 2019 despite fierce opposition from heritage groups like the Historic Royal Palaces and others.
Reacting to the news, a spokesperson for the Tulip project said, “The Tulip Project team are disappointed by The Mayor of London’s decision to direct refusal of planning permission, particularly as The Tulip will generate immediate and longer-term socio-economic benefits to London and the UK as a whole," adding, "We will now take time to consider potential next steps for The Tulip Project.”
It's neat-o like most of his stuff. And sometimes it's kind of cool. But there's a limit to how many iconic sculptures you can put on a skyline before it starts looking like a bric-a-brac store of "antiques".
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I think I know where they got their inspiration, my designs:
https://www.rhwdesigns.com/architecture/studio/thesis/#jp-carousel-3410
Yep.
yourrightmrwilson
Giant butt plugs are so yesterday. Butt it is a wonderful commentary on the stuffy English persona.
Oh we're still pretending its a tulip shape ??? Yes.. of course its a 'tulip'
I can't think of a major city with a worse skyline than London. What a shapeless mess.
NYC: Hold my kombucha.
NYC has a beautiful linearity inherent in the shape of Manhattan that, no matter how overcrowded, retains a nice shape from a certain distance.
London, by contrast, looks garbled at every scale, from every angle, from any distance.
It's neat-o like most of his stuff. And sometimes it's kind of cool. But there's a limit to how many iconic sculptures you can put on a skyline before it starts looking like a bric-a-brac store of "antiques".
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