The Walkie Talkie – One of London’s Most Distinctive Buildings

London has never been afraid of unusual architecture. The city is a mixture of old and new, where historic churches, narrow streets and Victorian buildings can suddenly find themselves standing in the shadow of something completely modern.

Few buildings demonstrate that contrast better than 20 Fenchurch Street, better known simply as the Walkie Talkie.

Standing in the heart of the City of London, the building is instantly recognisable. Its unusual shape widens as it rises, giving it the appearance that produced its famous nickname. It is certainly not a conventional skyscraper, and whether you like it or not, it is difficult to ignore.

Completed in 2014, 20 Fenchurch Street was designed by architect Rafael Viñoly. Rising to around 160 metres, it is not the tallest building on the London skyline, but its shape gives it a presence that many taller buildings struggle to achieve.

From street level it can appear enormous. Looking upwards, the curved façade seems to lean out over you, while the glass reflects the constantly changing London sky and the buildings surrounding it.

It is a building that changes depending on where you stand.

From one street it can look relatively narrow. Walk around the corner and suddenly the huge curved façade dominates the view. From some of the smaller streets nearby, the Walkie Talkie appears unexpectedly between much older buildings, creating one of those architectural contrasts that London does particularly well.

The building has not been without controversy.

During its construction, the curved glass façade created an unexpected problem. Sunlight reflected from the building became concentrated onto the streets below, producing temperatures intense enough to damage vehicles and nearby property. The phenomenon quickly earned the building another nickname – the Walkie Scorchie.

Measures were eventually introduced to reduce the problem, but the story became another chapter in the building's unusual history.

At the top of the Walkie Talkie is the Sky Garden. Spread across several levels, it combines landscaped gardens, viewing areas, restaurants and large expanses of glass overlooking London.

The views are impressive.

From here the scale of the capital becomes much clearer. The River Thames winds through the city below, while landmarks old and new stretch towards the horizon. It also gives visitors a very different perspective of London's constantly changing skyline.

For me, however, the Walkie Talkie is just as interesting from the ground.

Photographing it from the surrounding streets reveals details that are easily missed from a distance. The repeating lines of the façade, reflections in the glass and the enormous curve at the top all provide completely different images depending on the angle.

Sometimes the building fills the entire frame. At other times it appears between neighbouring offices or older stone buildings, almost as though it has been squeezed into a city that was never designed for skyscrapers.

That is perhaps what makes photographing modern architecture in London so interesting.

The Walkie Talkie does not stand in isolation. It has become part of a much larger architectural landscape where buildings from completely different centuries exist side by side.

London continues to change, and its skyline continues to rise.

Some buildings disappear into that skyline almost unnoticed. Others become landmarks almost immediately.

The Walkie Talkie is definitely one of the latter.

It may have divided opinion since the day it appeared above the City of London, but more than a decade after its completion, 20 Fenchurch Street has become one of the capital's most recognisable modern buildings.

Love it or hate it, London would now look slightly different without it.

By Daren Frankish