Environmental Interactions

The St. Paul's Cathedral and the
Information Centre as seen from behind

 As previously talked about, opposite the grassy square on which the information centre lays, sits one of London’s biggest historical landmarks, St. Pauls Cathedral. Other notable articles in the immediate environment include the two main perpendicular axes of travel passing the centre: the first being a busy East-West road connecting the City of London to Westminster and the other being a strong North-South pedestrian flow connecting St. Pauls to Tate Modern and consequently the North and South sides of the river. It is of course located within the City of London, a predominantly business district of London but also with plenty to attract the tourism which the centre serves.
 

The grass area in front of the centre

   The final structure takes the form of a bespoke metal envelope, folding dramatically from the ground. Its many angular creases give it a truly dynamic appearance, changing from every angle. The Centre's triangular footprint has arisen from the flow of pedestrians around it: with few passing behind, the building opens up at the front to the primary passing routes, welcoming and almost funnelling visitors in. This inviting effect is accentuated by the glass front to the building, making it appear more open and easy to access. It rises from its grassy plot reflecting and absorbing colours of the surrounding environment whilst opening up to welcome visitors in.



The information centre at night


   By night a series of street lamps lead the way through the garden towards the centre where the building appears as a glorious, enlightened cathedral, sofly glowwing in the dark. Its pertruding corners spire outwards and upwards towards the sky, echoing its holy context. With the opposing trees and extending roof, a vague sheltered arch is created where the glowing light is centred. Here visitors can still look through the glass to a series of screens displaying information after closing hours.



The Building as seen from behind, showing its angular folds

    The building's dramatic de-constructive form in the context of a fiercely traditional heritage site was a risky move by MAKE architects. Nevertheless it's difficult to find an angle from which the building looks out of place. Whilst standing out as a noticeable landmark in its own right, the centre does nothing to detract from the Glory of St Paul's. The sloping roof makes the building 'look up' at its colossal neighbour in a metaphorical nod of respect, whilst simultaneously ensuring there is an absolute minimum impact to its views. It is both dramatic and discrete.

 

One of many light inlets in the roof

    In the current political climate it is increasingly important to not only consider the local environment of any new structure but also its impact on the environment of the entire world. MAKE’s design rises proudly to exacting environmental standards and has been engineered to exceed current targets for CO₂ emissions by over 20%^[1]. Dynamic lighting, automatically adjusting brightness to work with temporal levels of natural light entering through its bountiful inlets and 300mm of modern insulation^[2] help minimised wastage. In addition its recycled timber^[1] lining and organic surroundings help minimise any negative environmental impact.

References
1. http://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/st-pauls/ - 24/10/2010
2. Architectural Tour of “The City of London Information Centre” 2/11/2010
All images are our own.

Structure & Construction



Structural Steel Frame, Side Elevation



Structural Steel Frame, Rear Elevation

The structural core of the building is a steel frame which runs throughout its shape. Because each face of the building is a triangular, the main framework is naturally divided into a series of triangles, affording the structure a good degree of rigidity. These triangular sections are reinforced with further supporting framework^[1] and then structural plywood is bolted to either side, locking the whole frame firmly in place. The framework is 300mm thick to allow this much insulation between^[2].

Section showing the Foundations

   A concrtete foundation attaches the frame to the ground with an inset steel locking system which the frame is designed to fit^[1]. The frame had been prefabricated in two main parts previouslty in Bolton and was assembled overnight^[2].



Gaps in exterior cladding showing attaching rivets,
 left in the Trespa and in the steel to the right

   On top of the plywood, the entire structure is wrapped in a waterproof membrane^[3], then the exterior steel cladding is rivetted to the outer plywood and the yellow Trespa to the reverse. The glass at the front enters the structure through the meeting of the steel and Trespa and at gaps between the Trespa panels and falls down seamlessly into the floor.

References

1. http://www.makearchitects.com/#/projects/0022/ - 24/10/2010

2. http://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/st-pauls/ - 24/10/2010

3. Architectural Tour of “The City of London Information Centre” - 2/11/2010
All images are our own.

Materials

View from an inside corner of the
 building showing St. Paul's behind

The Information centre is situated on a small grassy area known as Carter Lane Garden or Information Centre Garden^[1]. In a broader context, as mentioned before, it neighbours the stone monolith of St. Paul's Cathedral as well as two modern red brick buildings and some others with stone façades and large glass windows. St. Paul's is constructed from a light grey stone named after the Isle of Portland where it is quarried, and its dome is capped by a lead shell, which together make up the majority of its exterior materials^[2]. In addition to the centre's architectural surroundings the adjacent busy road is to be considered due to the soot it produces.

The green of the surrounding folliage
can be seen reflected in the metal facade

As almost the entire façade and the roof are covered with stainless steel panels, it instantly strikes us as the dominant material. This steel has an interesting matte surface which softly reflects colours from its surroundings, acting like a chameleon. Whilst the angular panels cut precisely out from the organic forms of the garden, the subtle reflectivity of its surface absorbs their green, softening the transition of colour. Meanwhile a passing bus will momentarily give the building a warm red glow and the Glass front follows this by reflecting its image. Walking around the building we notice that people have left marks on the surface such as hand or shoe prints. It would seem that people have attempted to climb on the building, but the stainless steel resists easily and from anything less than a very close distance looks immaculate. This gives it a particularly solid feel.

The glass frontage repeatedly
 reflects its surroundings

The glass mentioned earlier covers the entire front. It forms a faint boundary between the interior and exterior and through the angels of the glass walls extraordinary mirror like reflections are created. Covered by yellow Trespa panels (a recycled timber product)^[3], the frame structure is skilfully hidden so that the glass just seems to spill from the roof like a waterfall and in places it's difficult to notice the boundary at all, conserving the open shapes welcoming effect.  The roof continues passed this glass boundary  as do the yellow panels keep the feeling of shelter beyond the actual enclosed area and further blur the boundaries between 'in' and 'out'. This yellow symbolises sunshine^[4] and gives the interior a warm gloom, as does the bountiful natural light let in by the glass, allowing the building to maintain minimal artificial lighting^[5].

Walking through the subtle threshold and into the building we step across long granite tiles each laid horizontally in the direction of the openings, resembling a conveyor belt funnelling tourists  through the information centre and giving them direction. This black flooring contrasts against the  yellow panels which line the interior.

References

1 http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/gardens-online-record.asp?ID=COL015 31/10/2010

2 http://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=121 31/10/2010

3 http://www.e-architect.co.uk/london/st_pauls_information_centre.htm 29/10/2010

4 Architectural Tour of “The City of London Information Centre” 2/11/2010

5 http://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/st-pauls/ 29/10/2010
All images are our own.

The Survey

The City of London Information Centre

What is it?

The City of London Information Centre, is a building offering free information to tourists in the City of London. The current structure, which we will be focussing on, is a design by MAKE architects realised in 2007, which subsequently won the Civic Trust Award for Greater London Region in 2009 ^[1]. The building sits, just opposite St Paul's Cathedral's south façade, on the intersection of St. Paul's Churchyard (later Canon St. and Ludgate Hill) and Peter's Hill (leading to the Millennium Bridge).

Map showing the centre's location

   At this point it is worth noting that The City of London is not the same as London City, or Greater London. It is in fact just a small district of approximately one square mile containing very few of Landmarks stereotypically associated with London. The Houses of Parliament, The London Eye, Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London to name a just a few are in fact in the neighbouring City of Westminster or elsewhere. The information centre therefore aims only to cater for attractions within this area or a close proximity. 'The City', as it's often called, is now predominantly London's economic centre, but owing to a small wealth of attractions, there is also a certain degree of tourist appeal with sights ranging from the ancient city walls to St. Paul's Cathedral and the ultra modern 30 St Mary Axe (or 'the Gherkin') ^[2]. Whilst Norman Foster enjoys most of the limelight for the Gherkin, it was in fact another architect by the name of Ken Shuttleworth who drew its original sketches and it is he who lead the design team of the City of London Information Centre ^[3].

Why?

Ever since the Festival of Britain in the 1950's a kiosk providing information for The City's tourists has stood on the site. The original pavilion however, had been standing for over 50 years and as well as being in need of serious refurbishment, the space and facilities of the small building were insufficient for the modern technological requirements of such an important centre for tourism ^[4]. This is after all, the gateway to the ancient City of London for millions of visitors every year. It is this “first impression” status held by the centre's nature, coupled with pressures of such a historically sensitive heritage site and environmental implications, which inevitably lead to a design brief for an entirely new building.

An entrance to the centre

    The predominant constraints arise from the site's proximity to its world famous neighbour, St. Paul's Cathedral. The new design must not obstruct views of Wren's 17th Century masterpiece, nor may it clash with its architectural style ^[5]. Instead, the building must respect and compliment its grand accomplice; a subtlety complicated by the need to make something noticeable to tourists and architecturally worthy of its location. In addition the building must invite customers in and welcome them with a comfortable environment, providing them with state of the art resources, which the building must also accommodate with ease and efficiently, including potential future upgrades.

Who?

The City of London Corporation awarded the project to MAKE Architects, a then relatively new architectural studio headed by British architect, Ken Stuttleworth. Dubbed “one of the best hidden talents in the UK” by Sir Stuart Lipton, Stuttleworth left his eminent job at Foster + Partners after nearly 30 years ^[2] in 2003 to found the practice, which has since been awarded many other high profile projects including the redevelopment of the Elephant and Castle area of South London and part of the 2012 Olympic site ^[6].

Looking West along St. Paul's Churchyard

  
The information centre's customer base, by its very nature, comprises entirely of tourists to the City of London. Its location, right on the path leading from millennium bridge and Tate Modern to the Landmark Cathedral opposite, means there is a large drive of North-South pedestrian movement past the building. In addition to this, Cannon Street being the main road leading to and from the City to Westminster provides a strong East-West flow of both pedestrian and vehicular traffic ^[7]. Due to the lack of parking facilities most customers are pedestrians.

References
1. http://www.civictrustawards.org.uk/winners/2009/CTA006007/ - 24/10/2010
2. http://www.visitthecity.co.uk/ - 27/10/2010
3. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/nov/27/arts.artsnews2 - 27/10/2010
4. http://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/st-pauls/ - 24/10/2010
5. http://www.planning.cityoflondon.gov.uk/propdb/property/property_detailview.aspx?module=P3&keyval=000F5HFHLI000&propno=200000072359 -23/10/2010
6. http://www.makearchitects.com/ - 20/10/2010
7. http://www.e-architect.co.uk/london/st_pauls_information_centre.htm - 20/10/2010
All images are our own.