Southwark Towers – TP Bennett & Son, London Bridge Station

John Glenday — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:03:16 +0000

Stephen Furnell of Furnell Associates has been hit hard by London’s Shard, lamenting loss of the belle of London Bridge Stations three sisters: “Southwark Towers, the HQ of Price Waterhouse, London, was a 25 storey office tower built as part of a group around London Bridge Station.

A view from a different angle

“Guy’s Hospital Tower and Seifert’’s London Bridge House were the others. It is ironic that of the three, the two most unlovely buildings, by anybody’s standards, are still standing.

“Designed in 1969-70 this was a reinforced concrete structure and an early example of energy-saving design. Clad with glass and brick on a Y-shaped plan, with sun-shading balconies and cantilevered glass panels to reduce cooling loads.

“The reflective glass of the outriggers that clad the building’s main facades produced spectacular patterns in the sunlight and shaded the building from solar gain, as well as giving window cleaning access.

“Stephen Furnell spent five and a half years as lead designer, along with Len Abbott the Partner -in -charge, and many other designers, and although he no longer works for the firm who built it, is heartbroken to see it go. The site is now the location for Renzo Piano’s Shard of Glass. Let’s hope his glass looks as good.”

Swains Lane – John Winter, Highgate Cemetery

John Glenday — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:39:56 +0000

John Winter Architects are lamenting the loss of an important piece of Hi-tech architecture, an exceedingly rare style within the context of private residential construction.

No 85 Swains Lane was built for Mr Meredith Hardy in 1980 and quickly found fame in the architecture annals, demonstrating a care free abandon by the decision to support the house on one central concrete pillar and to truss up the first floor as a cantilever, for no other reason than “for fun”. This fun factor found favour with the architectural press with The Architectural Review deeming it front cover material.

Hardy House

Enjoying a spectacular position adjoining the grounds of Highgate Cemetery, the home offered magnificent views over London. Indeed Winter himself was so taken with the area that he had previously elected to build his own home on a site next door, the famous Cor-ten house.

Site restrictions, notably an older generation of the client’s family who were in residence to the immediate north, and poor soil foundations, necessarily lent the house a low profile. The house was sadly demolished in 2008, to be replaced by a larger home designed by Eldridge Smeurin.

Winter remarks: “They did a good job building a very nice house, but it does seem wasteful of resources for a house to be demolished after less than thirty years.”

Hardy House

The Rubble Club » London

Southwark Towers – TP Bennett & Son, London Bridge Station

Swains Lane – John Winter, Highgate Cemetery