St Paul's Cathedral face-lift

St Paul's gets a face-lift to appease London's new Mayor
Recently the UK's resident 'clown' politician Boris Johnson was appointed as Mayor of London. His manifesto stated that he would protect historical views and in particular, "Reinstate planning rules that protect the views of St Paul’s Cathedral and the Palace of Westminster and reinforce protection around new viewing corridors". In other words he would prevent any tall building in the centre of London that threatens this view.

In the spirit of protecting views of St Paul's, architects Feix&Merlin have come up with a novel idea of how to ensure the historic building can be seen from afar. The company have revealed renders of a 50-storey tower to raise the roof of St Paul's cathedral, so that its trademark dome could be seen above any other tall building.

Merlin explained to WAN why they decided to do the redesign: "It's a response to St Paul's cathedral having a strangle-hold on the London skyline...It's a tongue-in-cheek response to Boris' plans and to say we shouldn't be restricting the upward ascent of London...We want people to think about what they want from London. Do they want a historic relic or do you want it to move forward?"

Although it was designed as a statement, Merlin added that he would be happy to assist anyone who wished to take the plans forward. I wonder if Boris would consider it?..
Niki May Young
News Editor
source : www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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