KPF Unveils Plans For Old Street Skyscraper
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Architects’ Journal.
This is the sub-heading.
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) has unveiled early plans for a 160m office tower by Old Street roundabout in East London
These three paragraphs describe the development.
The site at 99 City Road is currently occupied by a 10-storey postmodern office block developed in the late 1980s as headquarters for satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat. However, Inmarsat relocated last year and developer Endurance Land bought the site in spring for £150 million.
The new owner now wants to demolish 37 per cent of the existing building, before vertically extending it to create an approximately 37-storey tower providing an additional 45,000m2 of office space, according to early plans published for consultation.
The tower scheme would feature improved public realm around the building, as well as active frontages, café space and 510m2 of flexible community space – including a triple-height ‘great room’, which could hold markets, exhibitions, and performances.
I took these pictures these morning as I passed the site at the front of the top-deck of a 21 bus.
Note.
- I showed the approach to the station, to show the number of high rises in the area.
- The Inmarsat Headquarters at 99 City Road is on the South-East corner of the roundabout, with a new station entrance alongside.
- Unusually it has Inmarsat shown vertically on the front.
- The double-fronted curved building is the Bezier Apartments, which made the short-list for the Carbuncle Cup in 2010.
- The building on the South-West corner is the White Collar Factory.
The construction of the new Old Street station seems as slow as ever.
I have some thoughts.
Will The Building Fit In?
The architects’ Journal article says this.
Consultation documents said the tower’s design is ‘rooted in the distinct history of the local areas’, its appearance ‘tak[ing] inspiration from the Victorian buildings in the neighbouring conservation areas of Bunhill Fields, Finsbury Square and South Shoreditch’.
I can see some arguments as at 37 stories, it’s two higher than the Barbican towers.
Will Access Between The New Building And Old Street Station Be Good?
This map from Transport for London shows the future layout of Old Street Roundabout.
Note.
- The Inmarsat Headquarters is in the South-East corner of the roundabout.
- There is a new entrance to the station between the building and the Bezier apartments.
- The new main entrance to the station in the middle of the roundabout.
- Original plans showed a lift to the main station entrance from the surface, but two may have been built.
There appears to be a subway and two light-controlled pedestrian crossings between the new development and the station.
This Google Map shows the current state of Old Street Roundabout and the front of the Inmarsat Headquarters.
It can’t be long before developers build on the other two sides of the roundabout.
Who Will Be The Tenants?
This article on the Hackney Gazette, is entitled New 36-Storey Office Tower Proposed For Old Street.
It says this about the tenants.
The new site would contain approximately 4,000 sqm of new affordable workspaces that would be accessible to local businesses and organisations.
I suspect that these offices will be much better than some of the dumps Metier worked out of in the 1970s and 1980s.
Just promising to show the view could get a few visitors and some possible sales
Will The Building Have An Observation Platform?
At 160 metres tall, this building will be 150 metres shorter than The Shard, but it will be 27 metres than the Barbican towers.
So why not have an observation platform?
I suspect that from there, you will be able to see Hackney Mashes, as there are few buildings in between.
And The Winner Is!
This dreadful building called Woolwich Central won the Carbuncle Cup 2014.
Woolwich Central
You do wonder about Tesco, in that two buildings on the shortlist were their supermarkets.
Perhaps, the previous CEO was architecturally-challenged.
A Design Crime – A U/S Building
It is a common term amongst engineers, that might by used by others too, to describe something as U/S or useless or unserviceable. There’s a discussion about the use of the abbreviation here.
So I was surprised to see this building with a big uS sign on it.
But it probably deserved it, as it was on the short-list for the Carbuncle Cup 2014.
I’ve tagged this with Crap Marketing, as who’d want to lve in a uS building?
Redcar And The Beacon
I deliberately went up early for the football at Middlesbrough, so that I could go and have a look at Redcar and its new attraction, the Redcar Beacon.
I first came across the Redcar Beacon, when it was nominated for the 2013 Carbuncle Cup.
I quite liked the idea of the Redcar Beacon, but some of the details had been rather poorly executed. The food seemed to be pretty good, with a good choice of cakes, including some gluten free ones, but many of the seats were set too low to see out.
Redcar scores highly for information with maps and liths everywhere.
To me though, the real problem it has for visitors like me is Redcar Central station and the Tees Valley line, that gets you to and from Darlington and Middlesbrough. Hopefully, it’ll get better trains in the future and someone will try to do something clever with some of the stations on the line.
And The Winner Is!
They announced the winner of the Carbuncle Cup this week and the story is here in the Guardian. Here’s the first paragraph.
Cramped rooms with low ceilings and one small window facing directly on to a brick wall. If you crane your neck, you can just about see the outside world. It could be a description of the cells in Pentonville Prison, but these are the conditions enjoyed just down the road from the Victorian jail in a new student accommodation block for University College London – today announced as winner of the Carbuncle Cup by Building Design magazine, for the worst building of the year.
It might appear to some, that the judges thought the student residence at 465 Caledonian Road was even worse on the inside than the outside.
This is generally unusual, as I think we’ve all stayed in bad looking hotels, where the rooms were excellent.
465 Caledonian Road, London
This is another Carbuncle Cup entry.
Dezeen magazine describes it like this.
Also in the student housing category is this rather excellent example of facadism which can be spotted on London’s Caledonian Road.
i actually quite liked it. But then what do I know?
Avant Garde Tower In East London
This is another nomination for the Carbuncle Cup.
I’m unsure about this one, as it certainly has a good location, being close to the City, Shoreditch High Street station and Brick Lane for a good curry.
Dezeen quotes one nominator.
Hideous monstrosity blighting the skyline off Bethnal Green Road
This could be one that people like in the future. Only time will tell.
The Premier Inn, Lambeth
This is the first nomination for the Carbuncle Cup.
I think the building merits its inclusion. And don’t take my word for it, this was said on the Dezeen website in their page about the nominations.
The Premier Inn in Lambeth is a travesty in more ways than one – we shudder at its lumpen form and mourn the building demolished to make way for it.
I can never understand, why in some places like St. Pancras, we get sympathetic additions to old buildings and in other places we just don’t!
The original building was the General Lying-In Hospital.
it’s Carbuncle Cup Time Again!
They’ve just announced the shortlist for the Carbuncle Cup. It’s here on the Dezeen web site.
I’m surprised that the Shard has never been nominated. If ever there was a carbuncle, it is that monstrosity!
The Anonymous Widower 