City Hall (London)

City Hall
Location of City Hall in Central London
Viewed from Tower Bridge
Building
Location	Southwark, London, England
Address	110 The Queens Walk, LONDON, SE1 2AA
Owner	More London Development Ltd.
Current tenants	Greater London Authority
Coordinates	51°30′17″N 0°04′42″W / 51.50472°N 0.07833°W / 51.50472; -0.07833
Construction
Completed	2002
Design team
Architect	Norman Foster
Architecture Firm	Foster and Partners
Structural engineer	Arup
Website	www.london.gov.uk/gla/city_hall/

City Hall is the headquarters of the Greater London Authority (GLA) which comprises the Mayor of London and London Assembly. It is located in Southwark, stands on the south bank of the River Thames near Tower Bridge. It was designed by Norman Foster and opened in July 2002, two years after the Greater London Authority was created.

1 Background
2 Design
3 Location
4 References
5 External links

Background

City Hall was constructed on a site formerly occupied by wharves serving the Pool of London. The building does not belong to the GLA but is leased under a 25-year rent. Despite the name, City Hall is neither located in nor does it serve a city (as recognised by English constitutional law), often adding to the confusion of Greater London with the City of London, whose headquarters is in the Guildhall, north of the Thames. The predecessors of the Greater London Authority, namely the Greater London Council and the London County Council, had their headquarters at County Hall, upstream on the South Bank. Although County Hall's old council chamber is still intact, the building is unavailable for use by the GLA due to the building's conversion into, among other things, a luxury hotel, amusement arcade and aquarium.

Design

The interior helical staircase of London City Hall

The building has an unusual bulbous shape, intended to reduce its surface area and thus improve energy efficiency. It has been compared variously to Darth Vader's helmet, a misshapen egg, a woodlouse and a motorcycle helmet. Former mayor Ken Livingstone referred to it as a "glass testicle",^[1]^[2] while the present mayor, Boris Johnson, has referred to it as "The Glass Gonad"^[3] and more politely as "The Onion". Its designers reportedly saw the building as a giant sphere hanging over the Thames, but opted for a more conventionally rooted building instead. It has no front or back in conventional terms but derives its shape from a modified sphere.

A 500-metre (1,640 ft) helical walkway, reminiscent of that in New York's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, ascends the full height of the building. At the top of the ten-story building is an exhibition and meeting space called "London's Living Room", with an open viewing deck which is occasionally open to the public. The walkway provides views of the interior of the building, and is intended to symbolise transparency; a similar device was used by Foster in his design for the rebuilt Reichstag (parliament) in Germany. In 2006 it was announced that solar photovoltaic cells would be fitted to the building by the London Climate Change Agency.

Location

The building is located on the River Thames in the London Borough of Southwark. It forms part of a larger development called More London, including offices and shops. Next to City Hall is a sunken amphitheatre called The Scoop, which is used in the summer months for open-air performances; it is not, however, part of the GLA's jurisdiction. The Scoop and surrounding landscape were designed by Townshend Landscape Architects. The nearest London Underground and National Rail station is London Bridge.