38 PROJECT REPORT: MIXED USE SCHEMES
square and garden. There are three entrances to the inner square, one at the east side, and two at the west side of the site.
PROGRAMME
Rathbone Square comprises two roughly L-shaped blocks of seven to nine storeys, interlocking to create an enclosed central square and garden
In terms of programme, the south block contains the bulk of the scheme’s office space, as well as a loading bay, goods lifts and an underground distribution centre, while apartments and residential amenities such as swimming pool, gym, wine cellar, private cinema, automated car park accommodating 79 cars and residents’ lounge are situated in its the north block. In total there are 80 different apartment types and retail units of varying sizes skirting the inner and outer peripheries of the complex at ground level, including spaces for retail and restaurants.
When it came to design of the look and feel of the buildings’ interiors, the architects “tried to limit the use of applied colour,” says Longman. The architects used a “monochromatic colour palette,” specifying materials “with a sense of luxury, tactility and warmth.” On material choices, Longman says: “In the west-end and Fitzrovia, there’s a really eclectic mix of building types, you’ve got buildings from the Edwardian period, Georgian, Victorian, post war, interwar and
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
modern buildings, but what holds it all together is the quality – such as specialist brickwork, terracotta and metals – and we have tried to express that richness here.” Danish-style clay-faced bricks, longer and thinner than the UK standard and in an off-white colour, are featured extensively on the building’s exterior. The horizontal joints are raked back while the vertical joints are flush to “emphasise horizontality” across the building, says the project architect. Garden-facing elevations reinforce this visual effect through the use of long ceramic tiles. Grey bricks are used at ground level as a backdrop to the street-facing elevations adjacent to Newman Street and Rathbone Place. On the northern block, balconies are clad and windows framed with terracotta ‘ribs’ arranged and decorated to emphasise vertical contours, contrasting with the horizontality of the brickwork beneath. The vertical lines of the balcony elements are extended by dark stainless steel balustrades crowned with perpendicular oak handrails. Windows on the southerly block (housing Facebook’s UK headquarters), are framed with chrome elements, and separated vertically with crinkly stainless steel panels. Longman says this provides a “sparkle and
ADF AUGUST 2018
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
