Some time ago, but I have been unable to find it, I was struck by my first sighting of Renzo Piano’s Cube building, glimpsed in the distance beyond the railway tracks from Bishop’s Bridge Road.
Today, I was given a guided tour.
I find it interesting that Piano is perfectly able to design an office block of great elegance and finesse. What is it about it that gives it a sense of quality ? Good proportions, of course. A faint sense of a 1930s liner. If only there were more like it:-
You get a good view:-
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
The revised scheme by Piano and developer Irvine Sellar is indeed an elegant building, and nicknamed the ”Paddington Cube”. It’s easy to forget the controversy of Piano’s first scheme that was withdrawn as far back as 2016. That was nicknamed the “Paddington Pole”, and an unbelievable height of 54 floors! The revised and built scheme of only 14. There was also significant criticism by the Victorian Group and Sir Simon Jenkins etc. of the necessary demolition of the former Royal Mail Sorting Office, that previously stood on the site. There are of course winners and losers with the necessary development of London, and everything can stay the same. The revised scheme for Liverpool Street Station appears much better, than the first out of scale scheme on top of the station.
Yes, I remembered the controversy surrounding Mark 1. Charles