The 12-storey tower at 60 Fenchurch Street is carefully scaled to its context in the City of London, and took inspiration from the rich tradition of Modernist high-rise architecture in North America. Replacing two low-rise Edwardian buildings, it is organised to provide flexible, column-free workspace on floorplates of 15 by 27 metres served by a linear, expressed core that gives legibility to the plan and structure, in a manner reminiscent of SOM’s Inland Steel Building in Chicago, completed in 1958.

As a freestanding ‘object building’ the tower is visible from all sides. Office floors are enclosed in crisp curtain walls, while on the east side the stone-faced concrete core for lifts and washrooms is flanked by glazed stair towers. The flights within are visible from the streets, and animate the building’s most prominent corners.

At ground level, the design introduces a pocket park inspired by Paley Park in Manhattan. The paved piazza dotted with benches and trees forms a threshold between the tower and the street, and an informal forecourt for nearby Fenchurch Street Station. Together with the understated architecture, the public space creates a valuable moment of calm within the busy City of London.