The project is reappropriating Embankment Place as an intergenerational hub. The 1980s corporate office building (designed by Terry Farrell) was constructed on the air rights of Charing Cross station in central London. It was built on a previously unattainable part of the city – the air – only for financial profit, and only possible due to modern construction methods. The proposal reimagines the site for public use, opening up the building through a process of removal. A generous thoroughfare is carved out through the building, connecting the recently dubbed ‘Northbank’ and the Southbank. Above, are programmes serving the young and the old, who are usually forgotten about in the city or deemed unproductive. These programmes revolve around care, recreation and education.
The project is set in a future scenario where large city centre corporate offices have become disused and obsolete. Nearly all white-collar computer based work is now carried out remotely in a virtual office – from the convenience of bedrooms, garden offices or abroad. Online platforms have become substitutes for what community and connection was once cultivated in the physical workplace. In this speculative situation, there is an eventual shift in attitudes towards work, leading to unsustainable and unhealthy, metric based productivity no longer being prioritised. Alternatively, more importance comes to be placed upon the real, as well as the less easily quantifiable aspects of society, which foster health, well-being, care and education.
The proposal manifests itself with three key architectural strategies, which treat the building as a valuable resource to be maintained.
1. Make the interior match the expressive gestures the façade makes to its context.
2. Exploit the potential of the bridge-like structure by stripping back the interior, then removing and cutting away material to make new meaningful connections.
3. Reuse excess material removed from the building to construct new spaces and landscapes inside and outside the building.
