Computer-aided design for 30 St Mary Axe

30 St Mary Axe is one of London's most distinctive buildings. On a crowded city site the architects needed to balance the demand for floorspace with the impact at street level. They made a detailed 3D computer model of the building containing the relationships between the shape of the building the floor layouts, and individual components.

As the design changed, the computer model would recalculate allowing a level of design flexibility previously impossible. The computer model was key to constructing the building. It was used to pre-fabricate components and to guide each step of the construction. Computer-aided design can cut the times for design & construction and allows architects to innovate more than ever before.