A mix of uses – residential, offices and retail – creates a building that is in use 24 hours a day. The slender and pyramidal form of the tower was determined by its suitability to this mix: large floor plates at the bottom for offices; restaurants, public spaces and a hotel located in the middle; private apartments at the top of the building. The final floors accommodate a public viewing gallery, 240 m above street level. This arrangement of functions also allows the tower to taper off and disappear into the sky - a particularly important detail for Renzo Piano Building Workshop given the building’s prominence on the London skyline.

Photographs Ben Marshall, Michel Denancé, Rob Telford, Sam Roberts, Nikolas Ventourakis
Main source: Archdaily