London is already famously home to some of the worlds most iconic architectural designs with the Gherkin, the Cheese Grater and the Walkie Talkie and now a new tower called the Tulip will join the skyline.
Standing at 1,000ft (305m) high, it will be the City of London's tallest skyscraper and about 3ft shorter than the Shard, the UK's highest building. Designed by British architects Foster + Partners the Tulip will become a cultural and educational resource, according to the architects and will feature internal slides and moving transparent pods running outside the building for visitors to ride in.
Unique visitor experience
The Tulip seeks to provide an unparalleled vantage point to view London from a height of around 300 metres. The viewing galleries will offer visitors an engaging experience with sky bridges, internal glass slides and gondola pod rides on the building’s façade that will appeal to people across all age groups. Visitors will benefit from interactive materials and briefings from expert guides about the history of London. Complementing the experience will be a sky bar and restaurants with 360-degree views of the city.
Visitors will be able to ascend the London viewpoint, which has been designed to look like the petals of a bulbous tulip flower on top of a thin stem, to reach the viewpoint, attractions and an education centre.
Internal glass slides and spinning gondola pods fixed to the three sides of the facade would provide novel vistas over the city. Sky bridges would run between the observation decks, and the Tulip would have a bar and restaurant with 360-degree views.
The design recalls a hybrid of the rotating pods of the London Eye attraction and the panoramic restaurant that once sat at the top of the BT Tower.
A slim concrete shaft would provide a durable support for the steel-framed observation building glazed with high performance glass. At it's widest point the observation deck would be 34.5 metres, with the concrete shaft would measuring just 14.3 metres in diameter.
A classroom in the sky
An education centre located within the Tulip will offer 20,000 free places a year to local state school children. This educational resource, provided by the J. Safra Group, will deliver national curriculum topics using innovative tools to bring to life the city’s history and dynamism, inspiring the creative young minds of tomorrow.
Construction on The Tulip will begin in 2020 with completion projected for 2025.
