Gherkin

The design for 30 St Mary Axe, known as the Gherkin, was unveiled in 1999. It was to be sited on the former Baltic Exchange area devastated by an IRA bomb in 1992. Photograph: PA

Modelling the effects of wind. Photograph: PR

Nearing completion. Across from the Gherkin is the Tudor church St Andrews Undershaft. Photograph: Toby Melville/PA

The finished building. Despite its overall curved glass shape, there is only one piece of curved glass on the building — a lens-shaped cap at the very top. Photograph: David Sillitoe/Guardian

Architect Lord Foster. Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian

The building uses energy-saving methods to allow it to use half the energy a building of its size would be expected to consume. Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian

Gaps in each floor create six shafts that serve as a natural ventilation system for the entire building. The shafts create a giant double glazing effect; air is sandwiched between two layers of glazing and insulates the office space inside. Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian

In 2005, the building was voted the most admired new building in the world, in a survey of the world's largest firms of architects. Conversely, last year it was nominated as one of the five ugliest buildings in London by viewers of BBC London News. Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian

Inside one of the Gherkin's offices. Photograph: Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian

The view from above. Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian

The Gherkin is 590 ft (180 m) tall, making it the second-tallest building in the City of London, after Tower 42, and the sixth tallest in London as a whole. Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian

Cleaning the windows requires a head for heights. Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian