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 


A tri-generation energy system comprising a gas-fired CHP,


absorption chillers, and a geothermal heat pump for heating and cooling aids the hotel’s energy rating. A further design complica- tion for the team was that the rear of the building will also be pedestrianised – another entry point gate to Chinatown is being talked about. The plot of the building represented another problem, since it


is effectively a whole city block. Too deep, in fact, for a hotel in terms of daylight and efficient planning. The architects’ solution was to maximise the retail at ground floor by pushing all the hotel back of house into the mid-floor, a concept that it played around with to good effect. “We used the building like a chest of drawers,” explains


Whiles. “We started pushing the drawers in and pulling them out. And that’s when we started to be able to create public spaces of interest.” The glass the architects specified is highly reflective, while by


night the hotel illuminates the veil. Mock-ups of the glazing were made in Germany. “I'd had this vision of it being an electronic piece of art,” says


Whiles. “We’d sold that to Westminster, who were fantastic from day one. They are committed as a borough to contempo- rary architecture in its appropriate place.” The local authority is also keen to avoid Westminster being pigeon-holed as one big conservation area, and have ambitions to see a string of illumi- nated – but not floodlit – buildings from the BBC building in Portland Place down Regent Street and across Leicester Square to Covent Garden. Artist Jason Bruges was appointed for a lightshow with a pres-


entation based on a conceptual interpretation of the changing light dynamics of the Leicester Square skyline over the preceding 24 hours, but sped up over perhaps 15 minutes. The installation translates video footage, captured by eight rooftop cameras, into night-time performances via the 600 or so lights on the veil on the building’s façade. At the moment this is composed of local images, but anything can drive the lights, so future shows could conceivably involve a DJ playing in the W Hotel in LA while the London end pulses to the beats at the same time. Above the veil are 11 branded penthouse apartments – with


© Hufton and Crow


services ‘managed’ by the hotel if the owner chooses – each of which are acoustically treated to prevent too much disturbance from the hotel’s on-site nightclub. These apartments are big enough to be family units, but one suspects they will be snapped up by wealthy businessmen needing a London pied à terre. Down at ground level, meanwhile, the 35,000 sq ft M&Ms World retail outfit – a European first – is also popular (and


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