There’s no evidence the 305-metre ‘cultural attraction’ would boost confidence in the Covid-battered City of London
The Tulip is a proposed 305-metre high “cultural and tourist attraction” in the City of London. Designed by Foster and Partners for J Safra Group, it would stand five metres from the Gherkin, also Foster-designed and Safra-owned.
Unlike other City towers, the Tulip’s object is not to maximise lettable square metres but to create restaurants, bars, viewing galleries and “classrooms in the sky”, all placed in a glass bud at the top of a long concrete stalk. It might also be guessed that the project serves to feed the egos of the Safras and of Lord Foster, as it would restore the pre-eminence on the skyline that the Gherkin has lost to a clutch of bulky skyscrapers around it.
