Strata SE1

Here you can explore the images on this site that feature Strata SE1.

Most people know Strata SE1 by the three wind turbines built into its top, which can be picked out from almost anywhere south of the river. It was completed in 2010 to a design by BFLS, rises 148 metres over 43 storeys, and was one of the first tall residential towers in the wave of building that has since transformed the area. The turbines were meant to supply a share of the building’s electricity. In practice they have rarely turned, because of noise and vibration for the residents on the upper floors, and the building has had to live with the joke ever since.

Londoners call it the Razor, for the shape of the top, and it has never had an easy time with the critics. It was awarded the Carbuncle Cup for the worst new building of 2010 within months of opening. Whatever one thinks of it, it does the job of a landmark. From almost anywhere south of the river it tells you where Elephant and Castle is.

That makes it useful in a panorama. The building stands on its own, well away from the City cluster and the South Bank, so it is often the only fixed point in that whole quarter of the frame. In the full 360 degree views from the top of The Shard it is the tall block to the south with the three holes in its head.