The Gherkin

Had a corporate black tie reception evening at 30 St Mary Axe (also affectionately known as the Gherkin) yesterday night. The Gherkin is probably one of the most prominent building in London's skyline and is not usually opened to the public, so it was a real treat to be wined and dined at the top floor deck while enjoying the view of London! :)

Some pictures that I snapped secretly with my phone (well, I don't want to look like a little kid snapping throughout the night when I'm supposed to be networking with clients and marketing our services! hehehe... :P)

The building was built by the world renowed architect Norman Foster who won numerous awards for the building. Some interesting facts about the building:

At any one time, 378 people can be vertically transported through the Gherkin at a speed of 6m per second

It has 24,000 sq m of external glass which is equivalent to 5 football pitches

At 180m, it is over 3 times the height of Niagara Falls

Each floor rotates 5 degrees from the one below

The one and only one piece of curved glass in the building - the lens at the top of the building

And with good weather like this, you can see far far away! At the left hand corner just around the curve of the river, I'm convinced that I can see my flat! (And my colleague who stays on the same street said the same thing... hehehe)

Another angle at the top, where you can see Tower Bridge... and Tower of London

Well, I didn't achieved much at the reception and some of the people were really boring (I guess I can't expect much from actuaries... sigh...) but at least the views more than made up for it!