Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.London may soon have an upgraded skyline, embellished with a giant flower. Architecture company Foster + Partners have designed a new observation tower called The Tulip, that would be one of London’s tallest buildings if completed. The Tulip would rise to a height of 1,001 feet, just missing the title of London’s tallest building (currently held by the Shard) by just three feet. Foster + Partners have submitted the plans to the city and are currently waiting on approval for the building to be constructed. If given the green light, construction is expected to start in 2020 and would take five years to complete.The peculiar petaled tower sounds like the perfect tourist playground, with plans to feature a restaurant and bar with 360-degree views of the city, internal glass slides and London Eye-like gondola pod rides that would run along the building’s exterior. The building would also be used for cultural and educational purposes, with an education facility offering 20,000 free spots per year for London’s state school children.Foster + Partners, also the architect company behind London’s Gherkin building, plan to create a publicly accessible, lower-level rooftop garden that would connect to the neighboring Gherkin building’s existing park. The addition would increase the site’s green surface area by 8.5 times, which supports the Mayor’s goal for London to be the world’s first National Park City. Other eco-friendly plans for the building were stated in a press release. “The Tulip’s soft bud-like form and minimal building footprint reflect its reduced resource use, with high-performance glass and optimized building systems reducing its energy consumption. Heating and cooling are provided by zero combustion technology while integrated photovoltaic cells generate energy on site.“Photos courtesy of Foster + Partners.
