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London's 'Erotic Gherkin' Wins Top Architecture Prize
Yapoo News ^
| 10/17/04
| AFP
Posted on 10/17/2004 3:50:03 AM PDT by Dallas59
LONDON (AFP) - A new skyscraper in London popularly dubbed the "erotic gherkin" for its curvaceous shape has won one of Britain's top architecture prizes, organisers announced.
The building by leading British architect Norman Foster, officially called 30 St Mary Axe, its address in London's financial district, beat five other finalists to the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize.
The tower -- also called the Swiss Re Tower after the company which commissioned it -- has swiftly become one of the most recognisable shapes on the London skyline since it was completed earlier this year.
The circular, glass-panelled tower, rising to a pointed tip, acquired the "gherkin" nickname well before it was finished, and has also been dubbed "The Towering Innuendo" for its suggestive shape.
"This 40-storey tapering building is already a popular icon on the city skyline, so the jury tended to concentrate upon the degree to which this iconic object did in fact provide a pay-off in terms of facility, ambience and interpretation of the basic mathematics of the project," a RIBA spokesman said.
The prize honours the best new building or project in Britain or by a British architect anywhere in the European Union (news - web sites).
Also on the shortlist were Dublin's Spire monument, a museum in Manchester, northwest England, the Kunsthaus arts centre in Graz, Austria, a special school in a London suburb and a project redeveloping the centre of Coventry, central England.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: architecture; awards; erotic; london; skyscraper
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Heh...heh...I've seen bigger buildings...heh...heh
1
posted on
10/17/2004 3:50:03 AM PDT
by
Dallas59
To: Dallas59
"We're from France."
2
posted on
10/17/2004 3:52:24 AM PDT
by
Salamander
(Pirates of the Appalachians)
To: Dallas59
No wonder Madonna moved to London.
/try the veal
3
posted on
10/17/2004 3:53:11 AM PDT
by
Jhensy
To: Dallas59
Sometimes a building is just a building....
4
posted on
10/17/2004 3:58:00 AM PDT
by
Watery Tart
(buckhead/pukin dog ‘08)
To: Dallas59
Sometimes a building is just a building....
5
posted on
10/17/2004 3:58:26 AM PDT
by
Watery Tart
(buckhead/pukin dog ‘08)
To: Dallas59
A perfect awards ceremony for Bubba once the election is over and he can stop pretending to be too weak to campaign!
"Mr. Clinton, Royal Institute of British Architects on line 1"
6
posted on
10/17/2004 3:58:33 AM PDT
by
COBOL2Java
(If this isn't the End Times it certainly is a reasonable facsimile...)
To: Dallas59
I'm stuned. A giant step forward for all of humankind.
7
posted on
10/17/2004 3:59:29 AM PDT
by
dennisw
(Gd - against Amelek for all generations.)
To: Dallas59
8
posted on
10/17/2004 4:00:40 AM PDT
by
RandallFlagg
(I FINALLY updated my FReeper page! Click on my name and see how you can help our President!)
To: RandallFlagg
It gives it a more "pleasurable" look...
9
posted on
10/17/2004 4:02:11 AM PDT
by
Dallas59
(I'm a "Scumbag" who has been "Intimidating" the Press since 2003!)
To: Dallas59
10
posted on
10/17/2004 4:05:34 AM PDT
by
Born Conservative
(20 years of votes can tell you much more about a man than 20 weeks of campaign rhetoric-Zell Miller)
To: Dallas59
I think it's what the Brits really long for.
An incisor.
11
posted on
10/17/2004 4:08:40 AM PDT
by
djf
To: Dallas59
To: Dallas59
Heh! I thought if I typed, "AWWWW, Lookie there! It's Ribbed!" I'd get banned...
Whoops!
13
posted on
10/17/2004 4:09:15 AM PDT
by
RandallFlagg
(I FINALLY updated my FReeper page! Click on my name and see how you can help our President!)
To: Born Conservative
Only when the wind blows....
14
posted on
10/17/2004 4:09:44 AM PDT
by
Dallas59
(I'm a "Scumbag" who has been "Intimidating" the Press since 2003!)
To: DainBramage
I wonder what the birth rate around there is?.....
15
posted on
10/17/2004 4:10:25 AM PDT
by
Dallas59
(I'm a "Scumbag" who has been "Intimidating" the Press since 2003!)
To: Dallas59
"Dublin's Spire monument"
I was in Dublin this summer. This is a great big old stainless steel spike right in the middle of the main drag. It was a good landmark for me to find my way back to my hotel from Temple Bar.
16
posted on
10/17/2004 4:11:11 AM PDT
by
Max Combined
(I gave back, I can't remember, six, seven, eight, nine...)
To: Dallas59
The elevator runs up and down for 10 minutes then rests for 30.
To: Dallas59
The further architecture strays from traditional beauty, the further that society sinks into slum. Look at the period in America when all of the buildings being thrown up were of the hideous looking "modern" style. It was in the 1960's and 1970's - which is when the "cultural revolution" put our country in a basket and shoved it towards hell.
18
posted on
10/17/2004 4:23:31 AM PDT
by
Jaysun
(HAVE YOU GIVEN ALL YOU CAN TO RALPH NADER??????)
To: Dallas59
Does it vibrate? What kind of batteries does it take?
19
posted on
10/17/2004 4:26:43 AM PDT
by
DH
To: Dallas59
OMG, it's ugly! Is that really a building?
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