Hackney, London, United Kingdom
“Sensitivity with dynamism. Heritage is entwined with timeless modernity. One Crown Place is a unique and confident icon,” explains John Bushell, Principal of KPF Architects.
One Crown Place by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates is an important regeneration project in the London Borough of Hackney that comprises two residential towers above a six-story office podium with retail units on the ground floor taking its cues from the scale, proportion, and materiality of surrounding warehouses.
The project has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Awards Honorable Mention by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The triangular massing of the residential towers was studied with bespoke urban analysis scripts, to provide slender proportions from key city views, minimize local impact and create interesting residential units with optimized views.
The inner façades address the wider cityscape, featuring bespoke artwork by Stig Evans.
Inspired by Constable’s cloud paintings, screen-printed abstracted colors from local sky conditions match and contrast with the sky as the day passes, to create a kinetic experience.
Textured terracotta on the external façades extends the full height of the building.
A truly mixed-use building, a common energy center shares loads between the uses.
The office podium provides open and flexible office floors uninterrupted by columns from the residential towers above, enabled by a two-story truss that transfers the structural load of the residential towers to the edges of the building.
Residential amenities and a residents’ terrace are located on the 7th floor, where the exposed truss becomes a striking feature.
The building is part of the wider One Crown Place development which revives an urban block with a complex mix of old and new.
A boutique hotel (opening 2022) is located on a restored Georgian terrace on Sun Street, and a 1970’s office building will be converted into an affordable workplace.
The varied frontages and massing form multiple addresses, with front doors on all sides of the block and an intimate central courtyard.
A mix of old and new, it is both a unified architectural expression and a collection of individual elements with their own sense of identity – articulated as part of the dynamic and responsive composition.
Project: One Crown Place
Architects: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC.
Lead Architect: John Bushell
General Contractor: Mace Group Ltd.
Client: AlloyMtd Group
Photographers: Hufton+Crow
