Building the Gherkin

Building the Gherkin (2005) is a documentary film directed by Mirjam von Arx rated 8.4/10.

Can a single building impact the career of an architect, the image of a global company and even the skyline of a big city? Just a month and a day after the disastrous attack on the World Trade Center in New York, the first steel beam of a new tower is erected in London. One question is on everybody’s mind: is it the right decision to build a new iconic tower in the midst of London’s financial district, on a site that has already been bombed before? The 40-storey steel and glass tower sparks further controversy. Norman Foster, one of Britain’s most visionary architects, calls his design for the new Swiss Re London headquarters ‘radial – socially, technically, architecturally and spatially’. In fact, its size and shape are so radical that it is almost immediately nicknamed ‘the erotic gherkin’. Will the Gherkin become the landmark they all dream of?

Cast

Norman Foster

Self

John Coomber

Self

Rees Peter Wynne

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Fox Sara

Herself

Picardi Carla

Herself

Forrester John

Himself

Walter Kielholz

Himself

Ken Livingstone

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Scott Paul

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Partington Robin

Himself