Design
London Debates Skyscrapers Vs. Low-Rise Housing
The cancellation of a major tower by Renzo Piano has sparked a discourse on urban form.
If London and cities like it don’t give the green light to more skyscrapers, they risk being dominated by dumpy, “shorter and fatter buildings.” So warned one of London’s leading architectural authorities last week, after a major tower plan for West London was thrown out.
The scrapped building was a Renzo Piano glass-clad column dubbed the Paddington Pole. Peter Murray, chairman of New London Architecture, subsequently warned that if London lost its nerve for building tall, the results would be potentially very damaging. In a letter to London’s Standard newspaper, Murray asked: