Santiago Calatrava has unveiled plans for Peninsula Place, a £1 billion development in London’s Greenwich Peninsula, which will combine a transportation hub with a range of retail, recreational and residential programs. The project will be the Spanish architect’s first ever to be built in the U.K.
The development will arrange a trio of sloping towers above a metro and bus transportation hub. Commuters will be transported into an 80-foot-high winter garden, topped with a glass cupola that will flood this “urban forest” with natural light. The base of the project will offer a variety of amenities including a cinema, a performance venue, shops, restaurants, bars and a well-being center.
The towers, which rise above the commercial hub, will be flanked with stepped terraces, offering unobstructed light and views to each tower level. The towers will include ample space for commercial offices, hotels and apartments.
Peninsula Place will also include a land bridge directly linking the development to the River Thames, which surrounds the site on three sides. The footbridge, reflecting Calatrava’s signature engineering style, will feature a glass tube clad in optic-white structural webbing, anchored by suspension cables and a towering mast.
“It is an honor to be designing such a piece of the fabric of London, a city I love,” remarked Calatrava of the project. “In designing this scheme, I have been inspired by London’s rich architectural heritage and the very special geography of the Peninsula. It will be a project that reflects both this and the ambition of Knight Dragon for Greenwich Peninsula.”
Calatrava’s contribution to the Greenwich Peninsula is part of a momentous £8.4 billion regeneration plan for the former industrial site directed by property developers Knight Dragon. Peninsula Place will join the ranks of several high-profile projects by the likes of SOM, DSDHA and Alison Brooks Architects, all part of a master plan provided by Allies and Morrison. The plan promises to house 34,000 inhabitants in seven new neighborhoods, along with a film studio, design district, schools, offices and health spaces. Calatrava’s towers, combined with two buildings by Allies and Morrison, will provide 800 new homes — 200 of which are projected to be affordable.
“This new landmark for London and the growth of this area of London will create a new cultural district for Londoners and visitors from around the world,” remarked London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, of the project. A completion date has not yet been established for the project, but it is certain to make a sizable impression on the burgeoning neighborhood.
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