Plots S1 and S2
King’s Cross
Speculative Office Development, Plots S1 and S2, King’s Cross
Our designs for plots S1 and S2 for Argent at their Kings cross development are based on a combination of ideas about contemporary workplaces and their very specific location in the masterplan.
For us the key project opportunities were concerned with people and how these new places and spaces are actually experienced. These opportunities lie at different ends of the project’s scale.
The Public or Civic Scale
At a master plan level the great opportunity that this project presents is the realisation of a relevant and vital new piece of London. All too often master plans limit diversity, they tend to create a kind of sanitised space where individual buildings are seen as detached objects in a manicured landscape.
The very positive aspect of this project, that we enjoyed, is the great contrast between the civic facades, the set pieces of park, square and main street and the relatively narrow more complex back lanes and courts. London is indelibly marked by its multiple layering of city ideas from medieval, to Georgian, to Victorian, to contemporary. The result is a heady complexity, a city fabric that constantly surprises and excites.
We think there are great opportunities in celebrating the heightened contrast in scale and use between primary space and secondary, between the great foyers and entrances in the arcades and loggias with the intimacy of bars, cafes and staff entrances of the back lanes.
The Individual or Private Scale
In contrast to the civic spaces, where workers and visitors arrive and depart each day is the individual workplace and the buildings’ interiors. The worker on their way to and from work will appreciate the hugely connected nature of the location and the investment in the careful design of the public realm. The question for the buildings themselves is can this commitment and invention be carried right through the individual buildings to influence and enhance the experience of actually working in a place?
We began this exploration through the arcades and atria that perforate the building section allowing movement through the buildings to be seen. The great opportunity is the opening up the plan and section in a way that not only affords visual connections but also creates moments within the commercial floor plates where staff can meet and exchange ideas. These opportunities move from the scale of architectural interventions such as the arcade through to the opportunities of innovative design in the individual workspace.
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Architects - Reiach and Hall Architects
QS -
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