Stock image library photography of the Gherkin, City of London from the London Collection – Page 1

These photographs of the Gherkin form part of the London Image Collection and document various details of its exterior, interior and aspects of London seen through its glass panels. Find here oblique views of the structure's unique, spiralling, geometric tinted glass, images of the Gherkin reflected in neighbouring buildings, people enjoying its top floor viewing deck, photos of the Gherkin's restaurant and the enormous lens which eyes the sky at the structure's apex.

'The Gherkin' is the building's popular name of affection - and is more formally known as '30 St Mary Axe' (its street address), or the 'Swiss Re Tower' (named after its developer, the insurance company Swiss Re). Initially, before the building was actually completed and Londoners were still getting to grips with this startling phallic presence, it was sporadically known as 'The Towering Innuendo' and 'The Erotic Gherkin'.

It is extraordinary how quickly the Gherkin has come to stand as an icon for and symbolise London. Hollywood is no longer restricted to showing Big Ben or Tower Bridge in the background of a sequence to place a hero or villain in London - the Gherkin will now do the trick. It is easy to forget that the structure was only completed in 2003 and that some final glass panels (and a good number of tennants) are still to be installed.

The Gherkin was designed by architects Foster and Partners. The building was winner of the 2004 RIBA Stirling Prize for Architecture - with Sir Norman Foster accepting the award on the night.

Facts: The Gherkin is a 40-storey, diagonal steel structure (a 'diagrid') standing 180 metres high (three times the height of Niagara Falls). It has a circular floor plan which widens as it rises from the ground and tapers towards its apex. Its external glass covers 24,000 square metres - about the size of five football pitches - and, despite its shape, has only one piece of curved glass: the 2.4m diameter lens on top. It takes eight window cleaners in four cradles a full month to clean the entire building, which they plan to do four times a year. 18 passenger lifts, travelling at up to 6 metres per second, can transport 378 people at a time. If you prefer to walk, each stairwell within St Mary Axe has 1,037 stairs - three times as many steps as you'll find in The Monument. A 360-degree viewing deck - 'the Bar' - sits on Level 40 and there is a restaurant with spectacular views on Level 39 (neither open to the public).

Environmentally Progressive: Foster and Partners call the Gherkin an 'environmentally progressive' building - with fesh air ventilation drawn through automatically opening windows in light wells which spiral up the building's full height. The increased natural light to the building (modified by solar control blinds) and natural air conditioning mean that the building uses up to 50% less energy than similarly sized rectilinear buildings.The structure is also people-friendly: its aerodynamic form makes for reduced wind downdraft at ground level; and its small circular footprint allows for more public space at its base.

Interesting Historical Note: The Gherkin's cone-like proportions are modeled on the shape of a finial originally intended by Christopher Wren to sit atop the dome of St Paul's Cathedral.

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All photographs and the jimbatty.com web site © Jim Batty 2004-2007

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