Finding the Groove

The ground level includes retail complemented by a pedestrian route dubbed “The Groove,” and public spaces linked by a biodiverse landscaped podium designed by London-based design firm Studio Egret West. The townscape experience is enriched by modest kinks in the street layout which humanize the scale of the massing.

A generous, recessed main entrance provides connectivity to the public realm with secondary entrances enhancing the sense of place. All four sides of the development also have substantial views as well as natural daylight, with staggered, projecting balconies and full height glazing.

The buildings are characterized by textured materials that tie in with the site’s cultural narrative of process, making and art. Retail units within the double-height ground level are in the process of being completed, and once ready, will be clad in a mixture of English handset gray-black and silver-black bricks and anodized metal. The façades for the top six stories are in two variants on a common architectural language. Iridescent, fire reduction terracotta panels in ribbed patterns create rhythm while precast panels define floor and grid modules to moderate scale.

The design integrates robust sustainability principles through an efficient floor plate, modularized envelope and low embodied carbon principles.