6 Bevis Marks

London, United Kingdom

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6 Bevis Marks

London, United Kingdom

Firm

Fletcher Priest Architects

Type

Commercial › Office

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2014

SIZE

100,000 sqft - 300,000 sqft

BUDGET

$10M - 50M

Photos

Robert Leslie (13), Edward Hill (2), Nicholas Worley (2)

At Bevis Marks, we turned numerous complexities of city center sites to advantage — for its users, owners, and members of the public. In a part of the city rapidly increasing in density, we improved the ground level, making a courtyard out of a former loading bay, putting a pedestrian bridge over the ramp to a service tunnel, and reopening a walkway, which gives a shortcut across the site for the increasing number of people who work in the area. We also reinstated the pavement on Bevis Marks, which the previous building oversailed and partly blocked with a colonnade.

Reusing existing foundations reduced the risk and cost of underground work, but we still double the amount of accommodation and go up to 16 against the former eight stories. Stepping the building forms several roof gardens, giving its higher neighbors something to look down on. A lattice frame covers the upper terrace, shading a glass pavilion and giving it a distinctive ‘top’ to proclaim its identity amidst ‘gherkins,’ ‘cheese-graters,’ and ‘cans of ham.’ Meanwhile, the façades use green glass for windows and cast glazed cladding panels, echoing the colored ceramics of HP Berlage’s remarkable century-old Holland House immediately opposite, so ensuing this fine building is not lost in giant new development.

Bevis Marks is an example of our ability to align the complexities of urban development to create more and better accommodation amid more and a better public realm, as well as by recycling half the mass of the previous building, reducing risk and achieving a high sustainability rating.