The Cheese Grater, The Gherkin and the Walkie Talkie

The title of a new children's book? It certainly could be, but no, it's the London skyline. Building restrictions have been relaxed in recent years leading to a building boom of towers and re-purposing older buildings. London is, sometimes controversially, reinventing itself, just as it has over the last couple of millennia. These three buildings have all had their critics, particularly the "walkie talkie", the shape of which caused a parabolic mirror when constructed, which concentrated sunlight to such an extent, cars parked on the street nearby suffered melting of plastic components. As a result, the front facing of the building had be to redesigned.

The juxtaposition of old and new is also widely apparent, for example, this picture of the tower of Southwark Cathedral and "The Shard".

An interesting footnote: the lifespan of a new commercial building in London is about 18 years, so future demolition is a key feature of design.