Can of Ham
Foggo Associates has completed a curved iconic high-rise in central London at 70 St Mary Axe, which is widely known as the “Can of Ham” due to its distinctive shape.
The 22-story tower stands on the same street as the Foster + Partners-designed skyscraper at 30 St Mary Axe, which is called the Gherkin, in a grouping of high-rises in the City of London.
The building has an arched profile, with two curved façades and flat ends creating a distinctive shape that resembles the shape of tins of ham, from which it gets its nickname.
70 St Mary Axe’s unusual form was the result of Foggo Associates wanting to reduce the building’s footprint at street level while creating standard-shaped floors for use as offices.
“It could be argued that it is a mark of its iconic nature as other buildings of such recognizable form all seem to gain nicknames. We will take it as a compliment,” said David Warrender, director at Foggo Associates.
“There is a misconception that the building is a funny shape and therefore must have oddly-shaped floor plates, when in fact, the scheme is a classic central core building where every floor is a perfect rectangle, albeit of varying sizes,” he added.
The 90-meter-tall block contains 28,000 square meters of office space on its upper 20 floors, above 430 square meters of shops on the first, ground and basement level.
The building’s basement contains 360 bicycle parking-spaces, along with 35 shower units, that have helped the development achieve a WELL Being Standard wellness rating of Gold.
Foggo Associates