30 St Mary Axe, nicknamed the Gherkin, is a commercial skyscraper in London's primary financial district, the City of London. It was completed in December 2003 and opened in April 2004. The building has become one of London's most recognisable skyscrapers, and it is one of the city's most famous examples of contemporary architecture.[1]
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30 St Mary Axe is featured in Crypt of Civilization.
It was introduced in 4 days after people when the modern office building of steel and glass are crypts of information, and one third of most office buildings was devoted to storing papers and it was true in London's financial district where the most notable building was the Gherkin, a 591 foot tower. Steven S. Ross stated that it was called the Gherkin because it looks like a pickle on end. It's 745 double layers of glass panels let in so much natural lights that the costs of heating and lighting were reduced drastically. Steven S. Ross stated that it uses only about as much energy as a conventional office building. But shorty its completion in 2003, one panel came loose and shattered over 300 feet below. Gordon Masterton stated that it could be a clue to its eventual demise and although it's an extremely well designed building, it still needs to be maintained. A maintenance crew of 90 kept the Gherkin in good shape in the time of humans, after people there's no one to maintain.
The panels have stripped away.
In 100 years after people, the Gherkin is covered in vegetation and the building is being stripped away. Gordon Masterton stated that the individual glazing panels will begin to fall out of the external skin as the effects of wind, sun, and rain gives an aggravating effect on the condition of the materials to the building.
The floors burst.
In 150 years after people, the building's joints been exposed to corrosive moisture after 150 years finally fails where they have the most weight to bear, the floors which begins to collapse. Gordon Masterton stated that one floor could pancake onto another below. However, despite the collapse of the floors, the diamond shaped supports continue to maintain the building's skeleton and while the Gherkin is weakened, it still stands unlike most other skyscrapers.
Its fate is then revealed in 300 years after people that despite the partial collapse of the loss of most of its windows and the floors that has reduced the weight load on it's steel frame that prevented it to complete destruction, 300 years of English weather has seeped into cracks in the structure's steel. Gordon Masterton stated that it will be attacked by corrosion and the structural elements will be progressively weakened until a gust of wind will deliver the final blow in a very extreme storm. Finally, a brace buckles which triggers chain reactions of failure and fracture in the trusses until the entire 30,000 framework fully yields to the force of gravity and collapse into the ruin financial district of London, crushing many buildings in a process like St. Andrew Undershaft Church.
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