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Like the Freedom Tower did for New York City and the Oriental Pearl Tower did for Shanghai, a new building might soon change the London skyline forever.
British architectural firm Foster + Partners have submitted a plan for a 1,000 foot tall skyscraper with a 360-degree view of the city. Named “The Tulip” because of its floral structure, it would sit next to The Gherkin, also known as 30 St Mary Axe, another famous London structure by the same designers.
Key features of The Tulip? A pocket park, a rooftop garden, an educational center, a sky bar, restaurants, and a viewing gallery “with sky bridges, internal glass slides, and gondola pod rides.” It will also be eco-friendly. “The Tulip’s soft bud-like form and minimal building footprint reflects its reduced resource use, with high performance glass and optimized building systems reducing its energy consumption. Heating and cooling is provided by zero combustion technology while integrated photovoltaic cells generate energy on site,” Foster + Partners said in a statement.
The building is set to serve predominantly as a “cultural and tourist attraction,” rather than a residential or office space.
It would fall just short of the tallest building in London—that honor is still held by the Shard, at 1,004 feet—but according to the Evening Standard, it looks like it will have the city’s tallest observation deck.
As of now, The Tulip’s application has not yet been accepted. But if it is, construction will likely begin in 2020 and end in 2025. Perhaps, for twenty-twenty-somethings, the iconic London buildings will be Big Ben, the London Eye, and the Tulip.
