The Doodle, a 495ft work of art on London's landscape
28th February 2007
This is the first image of London's latest - and most futuristic - skyscraper.
The £90 million, 495ft tower, designed by the award-winning modernist architect Will Alsop, has already been nicknamed The Doodle because of the scrawls of bold colour decorating its lower floors.
Europe's most striking building: This colourful skyscraper, known as the Doodle, will become a new addition to the London skyline. Other future London skyscrapers include the "Walkie Talkie" and the "Shard of Glass" - Europe's tallest building.
The Doodle, planned for City Road, will stand 43 storeys tall. Its upper floors, covered with coloured "siphons" that absorb solar power, will house a hotel and public bar.
There will be self-storage units in 10 lower floors and a café and shop at street level.
Alsop won the Stirling Prize in 2000 for Peckham Library and also designed North Greenwich Tube station and the London Development Agency's Palestra building in Blackfriars Road.
He presented a controversial Channel 4 series, SuperCity, in which he suggested building new cities along motorways.
The Doodle is perhaps his most radical creation to date.
The artwork that covers the lower section is by Bruce McLean and is reminiscent of the surrealist works of Miró.
The tower was commissioned by the Access Self Storage Group to replace two Victorian warehouses near the Old Street roundabout.
Max Titchmarsh, project architect for SMC Alsop, said: "Because the storage units don't need any natural daylight, it gave us an amazing opportunity to think of that component of the building as an artwork, which in turn had a major impact on how we perceived the whole building.
"The vast public artwork by Bruce McLean is unprecedented for London and probably beyond.
"It is one of the building's key contributions to the public realm.
"Essentially, the whole building is conceived as an artwork, including Bruce McLean's piece, the coloured solar siphons and the building form - sculpted and faceted so the perception of the tower changes from every perspective."
Plans for the building, which has 19,5000 square metres of floorspace, will be submitted to Hackney council in April.
OTHER LONDON SKYSCRAPERS TO BE BUILT
London Bridge Tower (The Shard of Glass)
-----------------------
Bishopsgate Tower
-------------------
122 Leadenhall Street
---------------------
20 Fenchurch Street - (The Walkie Talkie)
---------------------
London skyline 2012
dailymail.co.uk
28th February 2007
This is the first image of London's latest - and most futuristic - skyscraper.
The £90 million, 495ft tower, designed by the award-winning modernist architect Will Alsop, has already been nicknamed The Doodle because of the scrawls of bold colour decorating its lower floors.
Europe's most striking building: This colourful skyscraper, known as the Doodle, will become a new addition to the London skyline. Other future London skyscrapers include the "Walkie Talkie" and the "Shard of Glass" - Europe's tallest building.
The Doodle, planned for City Road, will stand 43 storeys tall. Its upper floors, covered with coloured "siphons" that absorb solar power, will house a hotel and public bar.
There will be self-storage units in 10 lower floors and a café and shop at street level.
Alsop won the Stirling Prize in 2000 for Peckham Library and also designed North Greenwich Tube station and the London Development Agency's Palestra building in Blackfriars Road.
He presented a controversial Channel 4 series, SuperCity, in which he suggested building new cities along motorways.
The Doodle is perhaps his most radical creation to date.
The artwork that covers the lower section is by Bruce McLean and is reminiscent of the surrealist works of Miró.
The tower was commissioned by the Access Self Storage Group to replace two Victorian warehouses near the Old Street roundabout.
Max Titchmarsh, project architect for SMC Alsop, said: "Because the storage units don't need any natural daylight, it gave us an amazing opportunity to think of that component of the building as an artwork, which in turn had a major impact on how we perceived the whole building.
"The vast public artwork by Bruce McLean is unprecedented for London and probably beyond.
"It is one of the building's key contributions to the public realm.
"Essentially, the whole building is conceived as an artwork, including Bruce McLean's piece, the coloured solar siphons and the building form - sculpted and faceted so the perception of the tower changes from every perspective."
Plans for the building, which has 19,5000 square metres of floorspace, will be submitted to Hackney council in April.
OTHER LONDON SKYSCRAPERS TO BE BUILT
London Bridge Tower (The Shard of Glass)
-----------------------
Bishopsgate Tower
-------------------
122 Leadenhall Street
---------------------
20 Fenchurch Street - (The Walkie Talkie)
---------------------
London skyline 2012
dailymail.co.uk
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