London City Hall - The Queen's Walk, London, UK - Satellite Imagery Oddities on Waymarking.com

City Hall was designed by Foster + Partners, one of Britain's leading architects, whose design brief was to create a building for the GLA that would become a new landmark for the capital.

This striking rounded glass building also has many features that make it environmentally friendly, including solar panels on the roof.

The London.gov.uk website (visit link) gives key facts about the building:

 

Height of the building:	45m
No. of floors:	10 floors above the ground
Gross floor area:	185,000 sq ft/18,000 sq m (approx)
Net lettable floor area:	130,000 sq ft/12,000 sq m (approx)
Steelwork:	Structural frame - 2100 tons Reinforced - 1950 tons
Concrete (core):	13,100 sq m
Cladding:	7,300 sq m of triple glazed low emissivity coated clear glass, incorporating shading devices
Heat insulation:	Average value= 0.7-0.8 W/m_.k
Angle of glass front inclination:	31 degrees
Diameter of circular glass facade:	45m
Environmental strategy:	Windows open for natural ventilation, bore hole water cooling, heat recovery, displacement ventilation system, no chillers required
Energy consumption:	Energy consumption for the GLA's environmental systems is less than half levels in DETR good practice office guide. The radical shape of the building minimses the surface area (approx 25 per cent less than an equivalent rectangular building). It is self shading and the high performance facade ensures excellent energy efficiency.
Electrical consumption:	Greatly reduced as a result of using cold ground water instead of refrigeration to air condition the building. Saving use of mains water, the water is extracted through two bore holes from the water table beneath London and is used to cool the building and is then used for flushing the toilets.
Architect:	Foster and Partners
Construction Managers:	MACE
Structural, services, facade, fire, communications and acoustics engineers:	Arup & Partners
Cost consultants:	Davis Langdon & Everest and Mott Green & Wall
Landscape architects:	Townshends

The same website (visit link) contains information about the structure:

A geometrically modified sphere

The building is 45 metres high, with 185,000 sq ft (gross) of floor space spread over 10 floors. In conventional terms, the building has no front or back: its shape is derived from a geometrically modified sphere. This hybrid form is designed to minimise the surface area exposed to direct sunlight. The building has been designed to be as green as possible.

City Hall runs on a quarter of the energy consumed by a typical high specification office building. This is done through ecologically sound, passive environmental control systems and the shape and alignment of the building. The building's design has been generated as result of thorough scientific analysis, reducing both solar gain and heat loss via its surface.
Minimising surface area for maximum energy efficiency

The building's form is derived from a sphere, which has approximately 25 per cent less surface area than a cube of the same volume. The building leans back towards the south, where floor plates are stepped inwards from top to bottom, providing natural shading from the most intense direct sunlight.

The building is naturally ventilated, with windows that can open in all office spaces. Heat generated by computers and lights is recycled. The deep-plan floors allow for the collection of heat at the building's core, which can then be redirected to its periphery. The combination of all these energy saving systems means that there is no need for chillers in the building.

Using and reusing ground water

Electrical consumption is reduced by avoiding refrigeration and using cold ground water to air-condition the building. The water is extracted from the water table beneath London via two bore holes and is used to cool the building and then in toilets and for irrigation savings on mains water."

The architect's website, Foster and Partners, (visit link) has a brief description of the building but has some wonderful photographs of it:

"London, UK, 1998-2002

Located on the south bank of the Thames, alongside the new More London development, City Hall is one of the capital’s most symbolically important new projects. Advancing themes explored earlier in the Reichstag, it expresses the transparency and accessibility of the democratic process and demonstrates the potential for a sustainable, virtually non-polluting public building."

A Bing bird's eye view of the building can be seen here.