30 St Mary Axe (The Gherkin)

The distinctive ‘gherkin’ has become a landmark of the London skyline winning the Stirling Prize and London Region Award, RIBA 2004. Its unusual shape contrasts with the vertical lines of nearby towers though, surprisingly, it has only one piece of curved glass - the lens at the top.

London’s first ecological tall building this headquarters designed for Swiss Re is rooted in a radical approach − technically, architecturally, socially and spatially. Forty-one storeys high, it provides 46,400 square metres net of office space together with an arcade of shops and cafés accessed from a newly created piazza. At the summit is a club room that offers a spectacular 360-degree panorama across the capital.

2,000m²/180m, Foster + Partners, 2004.