Herzog & de Meuron’s First London Skyscraper Sports “Unique Geometry”

Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron has released new images of its residential tower for London’s Canary Wharf district. One Park Drive — the firm’s first residential project in the U.K. — is a cylindrical staggered structure rising 58 stories high and housing 483 luxury apartments.

The project is expected to help shape the identity of one of the docklands’ last undeveloped sites. It’s one of five new buildings proposed as part of a greater master plan by Allied and Morrison at Wood Wharf, the eastern end of Canary Wharf. Herzog & de Mueron is working with London-based firm Stanton Williams on three buildings in the area including One Park Drive.

The tower’s unique geometry will be the focal point of and visual gateway to the new district at Canary Wharf. It features a stepped unit plan within the spiral structure that allows each apartment private views and sweeping vistas of the canal and surrounding architecture through large bay windows.

“Set against the backdrop of the existing Canary Wharf buildings, the circular form of the new tower clearly distinguishes itself from its orthogonal neighbors,” wrote the firm on its website. “The form is a statement of the tower’s difference.”

One Park Drive will house a lobby with concierge, a library, screening room, fitness suite with a gym and 20-meter [66-foot] swimming pool as well as a steam room and sauna. The apartments are arranged into residential typologies that fit their scale and height. Large lofts with high ceilings will be placed near the waterfront at the bottom of the structure, while smaller apartments will make up the central section of the tower. Larger two- and three-bedroom units exist in the upper levels and feature generous set-back terraces.

Twenty-five percent of the homes inside the new development at Canary Wharf are slated for affordable housing with room for expansion of 40 new homes in the future. It’s expected to create over 17,000 new jobs in construction, hotel, leisure and recreational facilities.

Sales at One Park Drive open May 4.

Images via designboom