The projects in this collection, based on The City Archive Gallery at the Norman Foster Foundation, emphasize the creation of new buildings in dialogue with their urban surroundings through careful consideration of materiality, form, and programmatic connections to public space. |
The City
Archive Selection
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· BBC Radio Centre, London, United Kingdom, 1982- 1985 · Carré d'Art, Nîmes, France, 1984-1993 · Bloomberg Square, London, United Kingdom,
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The studies of Cavendish Square throughout time drawn for the unbuilt BBC Radio Headquarters demonstrate an underlying process which unearths historic layers of the built environment in order to further develop its most salient qualities.
The many iterative massing models for the BBC Radio Headquarters and Carre D’Art Mediatheque speak to the ways in which these buildings respond to the profile of neighbouring structures and the patterns of public spaces surrounding them. The Carre D’Art Mediatheque process drawings explore how the outward form and internal circulation of the building will programmatically and formally relate to the roman Maison Carré temple in front of it. Ultimately, a screen-like glass and steel portico meets a plaza rededicated to pedestrians surrounding the temple.
The site diagram for the Bloomberg European Headquarters emphasizes a unique plan aimed to connect with the major urban sightlines surrounding the building. While the maximized building envelope originally suggested tall structure which would have competed with the height and iconography of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Bloomberg European Headquarters turns to the street in order to carve a distinctive block interior. The arcade bisecting the two main volumes of the Bloomberg Headquarters represents a public continuation of Walting Street, an old roman road at the heart of the City of London. The many drawings of the building’s unique sandstone and bronze cladding suggest the way in which the building’s details create a distinguished new addition while remaining within a profile respectful of the surrounding historic city.
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