One of the City’s earliest modernist towers is reinterpreted by Orms as a contemporary workplace.
During the 1960s, London Wall was redeveloped with a sequence of large office buildings which, although designed by different architects, shared a consistent height, footprint and conceptual style. The clarity of vision which shaped the London Wall cluster was challenged in the 1980s by a new generation of office buildings, which greedily ate up public realm space in this part of the City of London. City Tower, at 40 Basinghall Street, was completed in 1964 – a Miesian slab with a concrete core, and glass and steel curtain wall.
Orms’ reinterpretation has created stylish, high quality interior spaces along with considerable improvements to the surrounding, multi-layered pedestrian realm. The City High Walk connects into the site at podium roof level, and new, publicly-accessible roof gardens have been created here. [mappress mapid=”28″]With the building remaining in partial occupation throughout the improvements, it was not possible to replace the cladding (although the envelope has been refurbished), and possibilities for increasing the floor space were limited. The unoccupied floors have therefore been redesigned to offer flexible, high quality space, meeting a demand from tenants for smaller floor plates in this prime location. The building’s street presence has also been improved with new facades and entrances, and a repositioned double-height reception area. Surplus car parking space in the basement has been converted into a cycle centre to encourage more sustainable travel.
One of the City’s earliest modernist towers is reinterpreted by Orms as a contemporary workplace.
During the 1960s, London Wall was redeveloped with a sequence of large office buildings which, although designed by different architects, shared a consistent height, footprint and conceptual style. The clarity of vision which shaped the London Wall cluster was challenged in the 1980s by a new generation of office buildings, which greedily ate up public realm space in this part of the City of London. City Tower, at 40 Basinghall Street, was completed in 1964 – a Miesian slab with a concrete core, and glass and steel curtain wall.
Orms’ reinterpretation has created stylish, high quality interior spaces along with considerable improvements to the surrounding, multi-layered pedestrian realm. The City High Walk connects into the site at podium roof level, and new, publicly-accessible roof gardens have been created here. [mappress mapid=”28″]With the building remaining in partial occupation throughout the improvements, it was not possible to replace the cladding (although the envelope has been refurbished), and possibilities for increasing the floor space were limited. The unoccupied floors have therefore been redesigned to offer flexible, high quality space, meeting a demand from tenants for smaller floor plates in this prime location. The building’s street presence has also been improved with new facades and entrances, and a repositioned double-height reception area. Surplus car parking space in the basement has been converted into a cycle centre to encourage more sustainable travel.
Oliver Richards
Founder & Director