0:00:02 > 0:00:04BBCFour Collections -
0:00:04 > 0:00:06archive programmes chosen by experts.
0:00:06 > 0:00:07For this Collection,
0:00:07 > 0:00:10Janet Street-Porter has selected programmes
0:00:10 > 0:00:12about post-war architecture.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15More programmes on this theme, and other BBCFour Collections,
0:00:15 > 0:00:17are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40The BBC have invited me to make a nine-minute film
0:00:40 > 0:00:42about a 20th-century building.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45I first became interested in London architecture
0:00:45 > 0:00:47when I went up St Paul's as a small child
0:00:47 > 0:00:49and realised how beauty and mathematics
0:00:49 > 0:00:51could change the London skyline.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53I then looked at buildings like the Tower of London -
0:00:53 > 0:00:56buildings built to impress and instil fear.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58This lovely 18th-century crescent by Nash,
0:00:58 > 0:01:00like so much of London's architecture,
0:01:00 > 0:01:02built by property spivs and property speculators.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04What building will I choose in this film?
0:01:04 > 0:01:06I've chosen the big fellow,
0:01:06 > 0:01:09the one building in London that, if you live here, you cannot miss -
0:01:09 > 0:01:10Canary Wharf.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31For hundreds of years,
0:01:31 > 0:01:33the first thing that the visitor to London would have seen
0:01:33 > 0:01:34from the edge of the Thames Basin
0:01:34 > 0:01:36would have been St Paul's Cathedral.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38Then years, years later,
0:01:38 > 0:01:41in the '60s and '70s, the skyscrapers grew up in the City,
0:01:41 > 0:01:42the tallest of which was the NatWest Tower,
0:01:42 > 0:01:44which never really looked finished.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47As we zoom along the river, past Tower Bridge,
0:01:47 > 0:01:49we see the Canary Wharf development,
0:01:49 > 0:01:51which dwarfs them all.
0:01:51 > 0:01:52But how does it blend in
0:01:52 > 0:01:54with its surroundings?
0:01:54 > 0:01:55Let's take a glance from here,
0:01:55 > 0:01:56in Greenwich.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Greenwich Park architecture in the landscape.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Behind me, the beautiful buildings of Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05In the opposite direction, an ancient avenue of trees,
0:02:05 > 0:02:07leading down to a central gate
0:02:07 > 0:02:10with the church dead in the centre.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Back this way there's a lovely line of symmetry
0:02:12 > 0:02:14going through the two towers
0:02:14 > 0:02:15and then, regrettably,
0:02:15 > 0:02:18the fellow over there does rather spoil the symmetry.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20There is an answer to that -
0:02:20 > 0:02:22we build a secondary tower and put it here.
0:02:22 > 0:02:23Then - and this is the big plan,
0:02:23 > 0:02:25it's going to be expensive, but it might just work -
0:02:25 > 0:02:27in the centre, we build an enormous tower,
0:02:27 > 0:02:31thus restoring the symmetry to the famous view at Greenwich.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37Canary Wharf is approached through the old East End.
0:02:39 > 0:02:40The docks, of course, were here,
0:02:40 > 0:02:44but by the 1960s, when cars like this were driving around,
0:02:44 > 0:02:47the docks had sadly gone with the containerisation.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52So then - a very, very quick potted history of the Isle of Dogs -
0:02:52 > 0:02:54everything was flattened
0:02:54 > 0:02:57and this huge development was plonked here.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00So how does it strike us as we approach it?
0:03:00 > 0:03:02In fact, over there, ironically,
0:03:02 > 0:03:04is one of the first pubs I used to play the piano in, in about 1975 -
0:03:04 > 0:03:06the Brunswick Arms.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10Up here is a bit I do like.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12In the old country houses,
0:03:12 > 0:03:15sometimes you've got a very grand gateway,
0:03:15 > 0:03:17and the gateway could be as impressive as the house itself.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20And here, they've got a great thing called The Chicken,
0:03:20 > 0:03:21designed by Will Alsop,
0:03:21 > 0:03:23which operates the bridge here, and I think that's a marvellous thing.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27Now, modern art has been incorporated...
0:03:27 > 0:03:30I think art and architecture, it's nice to get them mashed up together,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33and there is this, here,
0:03:33 > 0:03:35which is, erm...
0:03:35 > 0:03:36As the Americans would say, utilising...
0:03:36 > 0:03:38IN AMERICAN ACCENT: .."negative space".
0:03:38 > 0:03:41It might be a statue of Mr Pelli,
0:03:41 > 0:03:43who designed the tower,
0:03:43 > 0:03:45who is, I should hasten to add,
0:03:45 > 0:03:47no relative of Pele the famous footballer.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50Let's drive up even closer
0:03:50 > 0:03:51and see how it works out.
0:03:53 > 0:03:54Thank you.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56Because we're in a flashy car and we've got a camera,
0:03:57 > 0:03:58we can go in anywhere.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08Canary Wharf consists of nine new office blocks plus the tower -
0:04:08 > 0:04:10and that's just the beginning.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18It is just as if somebody has dropped Gotham City from America
0:04:18 > 0:04:21straight into the middle of London's old East End.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23It was built for the Reichmann brothers,
0:04:23 > 0:04:24who were Canadian property developers
0:04:24 > 0:04:27who had put similar developments up all around the world.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29With this one, however, they caught a bit of a cold,
0:04:29 > 0:04:30had to give it back to the bank -
0:04:30 > 0:04:32Mrs Thatcher was involved, there's all sorts of stuff.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34But I'm not here to look at any of that,
0:04:34 > 0:04:35I'm here to look at the buildings,
0:04:35 > 0:04:37so let's start off by glancing at some of the details.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41The first thing we notice is that they have not been mean
0:04:41 > 0:04:42and they have paid attention to detail -
0:04:42 > 0:04:45these Giuseppe Lund rather ornate, lovely gates are an example of that.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48My only regret is that we don't spend the same amount of money
0:04:48 > 0:04:49on public buildings.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55They've had their own lampposts specially built
0:04:55 > 0:04:57and commissioned these designs for the bases of them.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00It's supposed to be a plan of the Canary Wharf development.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Well, I can't quite see that myself, it looks more like...
0:05:03 > 0:05:05people at fake crop circles to me.
0:05:05 > 0:05:06Beautifully made, though.
0:05:10 > 0:05:11Incredibly noticeable and snazzy lav
0:05:11 > 0:05:14that rather resembles an Egyptian mausoleum.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31Canary Wharf is a miniature city - 13,000 people work here,
0:05:31 > 0:05:35it has its own train station, its own police station
0:05:35 > 0:05:36and its own shopping centre.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43But it is the tower which is most impressive.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46It took just three years to put up this beacon on the London skyline -
0:05:46 > 0:05:49the embodiment of 1980s Britain.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54So there it is then, Number One Canada Square,
0:05:55 > 0:05:56the tallest building in Britain,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58the second tallest building in Europe.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Clad entirely in stainless steel,
0:06:08 > 0:06:09some 800 feet tall,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11the top of it lost in cloud when it rains.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13Let's go and have a look inside.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24And so, what's our first impression
0:06:24 > 0:06:26as we walk into this palace of business?
0:06:26 > 0:06:31Well, there's definitely an impression of muted corporate luxury.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35We can look around and admire the 90,000 square feet
0:06:35 > 0:06:37of Italian and Guatemalan marble,
0:06:37 > 0:06:40specially imported, in this very grand reception area indeed.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44Perhaps the businessmen and business ladies can pause
0:06:44 > 0:06:46and take just a moment from their executive lifestyles
0:06:46 > 0:06:49and admire the lovely diagonal flooring.
0:06:49 > 0:06:54And then maybe catch one of the many, many lifts -
0:06:54 > 0:06:55I think there are some 36 -
0:06:55 > 0:06:57but we could go up and I imagine it's going to open
0:06:57 > 0:07:00and perhaps we'll be at The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'s office
0:07:00 > 0:07:01or something like that.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04Or maybe at least 1,000 LEDs going, maybe dimmer switches,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07people smoking Peter Stuyvesants - the whole lot.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10Ah, I've chosen the one where there aren't any lifts!
0:07:10 > 0:07:12We'll move along rather swiftly.
0:07:12 > 0:07:13Swiftly, that is.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18But, again, you can hear that lovely... Hear that sound...
0:07:18 > 0:07:21CLAP ECHOES Ooh, lovely!
0:07:21 > 0:07:24There we are, look at this. Nice bit of, again, muted design,
0:07:24 > 0:07:26nothing too lairy, because we're in business.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28Good afternoon. And I'm very pleased to see
0:07:28 > 0:07:30a lot of people properly dressed with ties.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35It takes 40 seconds to get to the 50th floor,
0:07:35 > 0:07:37which will just give me enough time
0:07:37 > 0:07:41to furnish you with a few interesting facts.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46There is 1.2 million square feet of office space.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49It's home to eight national newspapers,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52including the informative Sporting Life.
0:07:52 > 0:07:53There are 32 passenger lifts,
0:07:54 > 0:07:564,388 steps,
0:07:56 > 0:07:593,960 windows...
0:07:59 > 0:08:01VOICE ECHOES: ..one concert hall.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05They use 22 million gallons of water
0:08:05 > 0:08:10and a shocking 28 million kilowatts of electricity every year.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21But all those facts, quite frankly,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24pale into insignificance and are rather boring
0:08:24 > 0:08:26compared to the most important thing about this building,
0:08:26 > 0:08:27which is its height.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29And the height, of course, gives us...
0:08:30 > 0:08:31Had you worried!
0:08:31 > 0:08:34The height, of course, gives us an incredible view.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36If I could have done another job,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39I would have quite liked to have been Minister For Views
0:08:39 > 0:08:41and just gone round and looked at things.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43So there we have it -
0:08:43 > 0:08:45all of London spread out before us.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49200 years ago, it would have all been fields.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51What will it be like in 200 years' time?
0:08:51 > 0:08:53What will be happening in this tower?
0:08:53 > 0:08:55Perhaps, like the warehouses that it replaced,
0:08:55 > 0:08:59it'll be turned into flats because people no longer need offices.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03Perhaps London will be chock-a-block with buildings this big all over.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07But, for now, Canary Wharf remains the big fellow.