111 Charing Cross Road
February 2009, SOHO London
The new 160,000sqft Art’otel is a significant urban gesture, it takes a series of existing buildings and the insertion of a new street combined with a six storey light glass building positioned deep into the existing Soho block. The new building allows the expression of the art content to be seen from all zones as you move through and around the building. The insertion of glazed higher level walkways connecting the new street and the existing tight Soho street patterns allows the buildings and art collection to be seen from many different vista’s within this part of the city.
The materials and features of the design have been specially chosen, the external fabric of the new building is glazed, some panels being clear some opaque, which gives a sense of lightness and abstraction, in contrast to the strong heavy brick finishes of the existing buildings.
The new inner volume rises simply from the complex topography of its site to assert an urban presence and forms an inner core of connected social spaces, at ground to sixth floor, to make occupation visible and encourage engagement within the inner zone of the urban situation as opposed to the normal street face of buildings.
Our aim is to complement art and architecture with one another, with the use of simple geometry that at the same time maintains the existing and new building’s identities within a new urban zone.
