Project

View to the Thames

London, UK,

Adjacent to the river Thames, this new build development is designed to capture specific views to London. The building is conceived as two parts, a lower brick base built from bricks harvested from the original building which sat on the site, and an upper cantilevered volume, which mediates between the scales of the adjacent buildings. The project references its context in form, but is distinct in the materiality of fibre cement tiles, flush glazing and integrated photovoltaic panels.

Completed : 2024

TEAM

Architect : A-Zero Architects

Giles Bruce, Phillip Toyin,Mizue Katayama, Shoichi Sado,Maria Despina Stasi, Nicolas Tome

Structural Design:

TALL Engineers

Entuitive Engineers

Contractor :

Blero Construction ltd /

BBC Construction

Photographs : Agnese Sanvito

Context

Designing for a view
The site is sandwiched between low rising housing to the south, and a mock Tudor pub to the west. A detached dwelling that had existed on the site since the early 1900s had been completely overshadowed by a new development to the north. We questioned how a new development could get a view the view to the Thames, the Shard and the City, all obscured by the surrounding buildings. We hired a cherry picker to understand where the views were, and the orientation a building would need to be to capture them.

Environment

Building integrated renewables

This project innovates around integration of renewables. The chamfering of the upper volume provided the optimal inclination and orientation for the integration of photovoltaics with the maximum available solar radiation incident on its surface. The size of the PV panels became the module around which the entire superstructure was organised – with rainscreen panels, rooflights, and PVs all aligned to this common grid. The PVs are estimated to generate 32.4 kWh/m2/annum, or around 31% of the Total Delivered Energy required.

Unfolded facade showing setting out of fibre cement panels according to the module of the PV Panel

Adaptive Control

The south facing elevation, though optimal for PVs, posed a problem for overheating during the summer months. This can be generally addressed through natural ventilation, but a more robust solution was required to prepare for times when the occupants would leave - on work trips or long summer holidays. A series of timber louvres reflective to the outside were designed. The louvres can be installed and removed as required according to the season.