Tower 42, London

Richard Seifert and Pell Frischmann designed the National Westminster Tower in London, completed in 1980. It is 183m (600 ft) tall and marked London’s first departure from strict height zoning restrictions and was a shocking piece of prominent Modernism at the time it was built. Many saw it as an icon for the modern business atmosphere in the city, until its height was surpassed by Heron Tower in 2009.

The building’s floorplan geometry is actually a rather organic interpretation of the three chevrons in the NatWest logo. A complex symmetrical shape with three sides fills the core, and three “leaves” wrap around each of the three sides, cantilevering over the street level.

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