20 Gresham Street in London, United Kingdom

July 25, 2010 Category: Cultural, Public Buildings

20 Gresham Street that located in London, United Kingdom, was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. Located diagonally opposite the City of London’s Guildhall entrance at the corner of Milk Street, the building reveals its true complexity when approached from the Bank of England at the Eastern end of Gresham Street. The Milk Street/Gresham Street corner is highly visible, due to the geography of the street and the placement of neighbouring buildings. It has a distinctive colouration and its form is curvilinear at roof level. The building marks this important corner by extending the roof form to the ground and gradually sets back over the full height of the curved facade.

The vertical roof facade extends along Gresham Street at ground and first floor level forming the entrance lobby facade. Two revolving doors are placed on the apex of the corner. They are designed to mark the transition from a bustling city street into a calm, ordered world by introducing a degree of solidity that frames the view into the entrance and reveals back painted burgundy coloured glass panels that are repeated on a journey through the building. Once inside, a double height cathedral like entrance space lined with a sculpted travertine wall and a monumental reception desk creates an environment that is more reminiscent of an art gallery than an office lobby.

From the entrance area, the vertical circulation elements; escalators to the first floor and the lift lobby, act to orientate and allow access to the dealer floors at first and second floor levels and the office floors above. Upon entering the first and second floors, the benefits of the external pre-cast composite columns that form part of the external elevation are evident. The 30,000 sq ft floor plates have only seven internal columns and 18m spans, this accentuates the sense of unimpeded space and allows for greater degrees of flexibility in the types of space generated as well as creating the potential for multi-tenancy occupation. The atrium is located behind the central core and extends from the third floor to the roof. Its balconies animate the space and the base can be occupied as office space.

20 Gresham Street Design by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates