31 August 2022 · By Fran Williams. Photography by Nick Guttridge
The practice has completed the Cor-ten-clad Ziggurat, its second purpose-built workspace building for Greenwich Peninsula’s Design District
The practice’s first building, D2, featured as a case study in AJ Specification earlier this year.
Like D2, the new building, C2, also known as Ziggurat, provides open-plan, top-lit studio spaces and is constructed entirely from timber, with exposed beams and wooden ceilings, inspired by the atmosphere of old warehouses.
C2 is located along Phoenix Avenue, facing the market square. In contrast with D2, the 784m² Ziggurat is a three-storey Cor-ten-clad building.
It provides six workspaces of varying sizes - from 15m² to 217m². Dance company Clod Ensemble will occupy the upper floor, creating an expansive dance studio under sawtooth rooflights.
The ground floor provides an industrial kitchen space serving Design District’s Canteen, designed by Selgas Cano.
Its cladding is weathered steel, laid diagonally, to give its simple stepped form texture and a quality reminiscent of the gasholders that once occupied the site.
External shutters on its west side and fins on the east aim to shield upper floor windows from solar gain.
The building has a hybrid glulam timber frame with structural CLT floors, stairs and lift shaft, with structural insulated panel walls. The solid timber floor slabs are exposed on the soffit, with a raised floor distributing services.
Its walls are lined in phase change material (PCM) board that helps control the internal temperature in hot weather, along with the external blinds and shutters.
The pedestrian quarter, developed by Knight Dragon, has been masterplanned by HNNA and features 16 architect-designed buildings as a permanent home for creative industries. The assortment of buildings is arranged along and connected by narrow alleyways leading into courtyards and a new market square.
Studios, floors or entire buildings are available to tenants – individuals or businesses – at low rates and flexible leases, aimed at helping creative Londoners kickstart their enterprises after Covid in an interdependent and mutually supportive community.
Design District has been designed to work together. There are small spaces, shared spaces, larger units and co-working spaces in recognition that creative businesses are not all the same. We’ve pictured the kinds of spaces that have served creative businesses well in the past, to create somewhere that meets the needs and desires of this industry. Our two buildings make use of top light, creating light-filled top-floor studios: a sawtooth roof for Ziggurat and a butterfly roof for Rhomboid. Meredith Bowles, director, Mole Architects
Working with a wide range of architects has resulted in multiple styles of building and types of space. This variety has helped us to attract an eclectic group of creative businesses who work and think in divergent ways. We are finding that this mix of businesses has created a unique environment for companies looking to shake things up after extended periods of working from home. Being a part of this wider creative community, just one minute from North Greenwich tube station and 20 minutes from London City airport, will help creative businesses at all scales to make great work, attract innovative clients and inspire brilliant teams. Helen Arvanitakis, director, Design District
Start on site July 2018 Completion date July 2021 Gross internal floor area 784m² Procurement route Design and build Construction cost Undisclosed Architect Mole Architects Client Knight Dragon Structural engineer WME M&E consultant Skelly and Couch Quantity surveyor Artelia Masterplanner HNNA Façade consultant Optimise Landscape architect Shulze & Grassov Timber engineer Enginuity Main contractor Ardmore CAD software used Vectorworks
Percentage of floor area with daylight factor >2% Unknown Percentage of floor area with daylight factor >5% Unknown On-site energy generation Connected to district heating by Greenwich Peninsula Low Carbon Energy Centre (LCEC). Confirmed by Pinnacle energy that the CHP system will provide 75% of the heating energy requirement and 25% will be provided by efficient condensing boiler Annual mains water consumption Unknown Airtightness at 50pa 3 m3/h.m2 Heating and hot water load 53.75 kWh/m2/yr Energy heating load 51.69 kWh/m2/yr (LETI target 15) Overall area-weighted U-value Wall 0.25 (LETI target 0.15), roof 0.13 (LETI target 0.12), ground floor 0.22 (LETI target 0.12) Design life 60 years Embodied/whole-life carbon (for foundations, substructure and superstructure only) 207 kgCO2/m2 (saving 41% over RC frame) Annual CO2 emissions 15.5 kgCO2eq/m2 Energy heating load 48 kWh/m2/yr (LETI target 15)
Tags Greenwich Design District Greenwich Peninsula Mole Architects studios
Sign in or Register a new account to join the discussion.
We use cookies to personalize and improve your experience on our site. Visit our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy to learn more. You can opt out of some cookies by adjusting your browser settings. More information on how to do this can be found in the cookie policy. By using our site, you agree to our use of cookies.