City Hall (London)

The City Hall is the city hall of London. It is the headquarters of the Greater London Authority and the Mayor of London. It is located on the south bank of the Thames in the Borough of Southwark, between Tower Bridge and London Bridge Station. The Norman Foster-designed building is 45 meters high and was opened in July 2002.

The building has an unusual bulbous shape. This is to reduce the surface of the building and increasing the energy efficiency. The shape of the City Hall was compared with numerous objects, including the helmet of Darth Vader, a depressed egg, a motorcycle helmet or a " glass testicle ". Foster's vision for this building was originally been a huge sphere hanging over the Thames, but he then decided to use a more conventional design.

The City Hall was built on the site of a former shipyard. It is part of a larger urban development area, separated farther west through an excavated in the ground " amphitheater " of ordinary office skyscrapers. The building is not part of the Greater London Authority, but was leased for 25 years.

A 500 ​​-meter-long spiral staircase, similar to that at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, at the Council Chamber winds itself up. Located on the tip of the ten-story building an exhibition and meeting hall called "London's Living Room" ( Living in London ) with an open viewing deck which is occasionally open to the public. The spiral staircase to symbolize transparency, similar to the Foster -designed glass dome of the Reichstag building in Berlin.

The seat of the City of London is the City Hall, but the Guild Hall north of the Thames. The predecessors of the Greater London Authority, the Greater London Council and the London County Council, had their headquarters at County Hall. This building opposite the Palace of Westminster can no longer be used for administrative purposes today. It was rebuilt and beherrbert now a luxury hotel and an aquarium.

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