Building of the Year October 18, 2004
Posted by Andy Roberts in : Art, London , trackbackThis year’s award goes to the Gherkin, although a new open plan South London school ( “The Bexley Business Academy, also by Norman Foster ) made the RIBA Sterling prize shortlist and the War Museum, Manchester looked very impressive.
I knew I had some photos somewhere, here’s one taken from along the route to Liverpool St Station:
….
Apparently the Gherkin is particularly well designed on the inside, as well as being a landmark, but we the public have no opportunity to experience the interior with it’s spectacular views for ourselves.
And half of the office space is still vacant.
Later, I shall post a photo of next year’s winner, as it is being built 
Addendum
I think it’s worth highlighting this extraordinary claim for the school building:
“Built around three courtyards, the Academy is open-plan. There are no classrooms, but lessons are carried out in alcoves. The idea was to create a transparent space, where ‘everyone could see what was going on’, says David Garrard, one of Bexley’s sponsors. ‘It would create an atmosphere of brightness which would encourage learning.’
By thinking outside the hermetically sealed boxes in which young people are usually taught, The Business Academy has succeeded. The proportion of children at the school achieving five good grades at GCSE has leapt from just 6% to 36%. In one of London’s most deprived areas, a piece of architecture is changing the lives of the next generation. “
is an online professional who initiated DARnet 
We saw this building on the way through London when the M25 was chokker - when my Mum said it was called the Gherkin I though she was joking!
Yeah, the nickname gherkin was hastily spread around in publicity because, amongst Londoners, an altogether ruder name was beinnning to catch on. I couldn’t understand it myself, mine isn’t shaped like that, I just checked.