Squire and Partners has completed a slender apartment building on London’s Hanover Street, featuring full-height bespoke perforated shutters. The building forms part of a mixed-use development, which also provides a new office building and the Hus Gallery of contemporary art. From 1800 to 1930, Hanover Street was the home of military tailoring, which influenced the design and craft in the detail of the building. A chevron motif used to perforate the façade is abstracted from military insignia and combined with traditional military colors.
The shutters are a contemporary reference to traditional timber shutters used in Mayfair residences to provide privacy and light modulation. Spanning the width of the building, the shutters can be fully opened and closed, forming a dynamic frontage to the street and assisting with environmental control. When closed, the bronze shutters allow light to permeate through, displaying the chevron pattern, and when open, reveal flashes of red lining and gold trim.
Each typical floor contains a single apartment with a duplex apartment on the upper floors. Large open-plan kitchen/living rooms to the front offer views of Regent Street and Hanover Square.