Nothing like traveling to London to do business and (at the same
time) enjoy of the holidays, especially in a spiral staircase.
Hi, do
you know this time of the year that you want to take a break but, by the
contrary, you have to manage more business? I, Rodolfo, I don't know, of
course, but as I have many friends that have experienced it, I venture to give
you a little advice: mounted an office in London,
you'll discover the two things. If you
have already decided to mount an office, I recommend a great place, whose idea
is the fusion of the art and the commerce, as well, and also has the most
incredible staircase that has been created in this century.
But, as
usual, an interlude. When we speak of rehabilitation or reform, I remember a
story that I heard long ago (or read), from the first light bulb created. Thomas Alva Edison completed his first bulb
and he put it in the hands of his assistant, Jimmy Price, he has to move the
bulb to the second floor. The guy broke it, but Edison, circumspect (I
imagine), not chastised at the assistant, on the contrary, when he finished his
second bulb, he returned to hand over to his assistant, had a second chance.
The same thing happens when we reform a building: we give a second chance.
London
is the city of the international business, but is also a cosmopolitan city that
wears its charm with pride. In the Soho, specifically in the number 178 of
Wardour Street, corner with Hollen Street, was inaugurated in the last April,
one of those obsolete buildings, which have been given a second chance. This
opportunity were gave by the Resolution Property real
estate team, whose area of activity is the United Kingdom and the rest of
Europe, and whose vision of the sector is very different from the classic, and
now more that have been associated with the Peterson HK Group, with they will
reach Canada and Hong Kong. They saw the potential of this building and wanted
to give it an added value.
They counted
with a large group of professionals of different branches and different
international experiences (of course), I will not tell you which of them have
work thanks to my (you know my eternal humility). The building, renamed to Ampersand Building, or simply Ampersand, has been remodelled
to include the luxury residences and offices of high level, which will
accommodate professional applications, telecommunications, corporate,
technological applications and everything you can imagine, in total, 6.169
square meters of floor space.
They
called to the Darling Associates
architecture Studio (lovers of its work, clear), with offices in London, Poland
and the United Arab Emirates, who knew how to anticipate its customer's needs.
His work has been to improve the facades and redistribute the inside, giving a
new entrance at the corner of Wardour Street and Hollen Street, and enhancing
the figure of reception areas, both for the users of the residential area as
for the shopping areas. A huge skylight
has become in the main focus of lighting in the interior of the building, whose
effect has been multiplied by converting all the walls of the courtyard to
transparent (using the glass, of course).
In the
top floor, a roof gable covers the 10 new luxury duplex (can you imagine
working and living in this building? No? Read on...). The building has four
floors of offices accompanied by a terrace of 195 square meters, with a few
vertical gardens that give a welcoming atmosphere. Outside, a huge glass panel
covers the corner chamfer, coated with copper fins
(this will like to my cousin), as well as the windows, and with a game of
volumes that gives life to the facade.
Another of the architects of this wonder
is Tom
Hingston, graphic
designer, he has worked to brands such as Dior, McQueen or Lancome, or groups
such as The Rolling Stone, U2 and Robbie Williams. He was the
creator of the (fantastic) logo, which you'll see developed when you enter in
the lobby: in the centre, a sculpture of seven meters long, built with brass
and wood, is will extending, being inscribed on it the reception, and even in
the concrete on the floor and the walls, these "threads" or recesses
and projections created in different materials , make up the logo of the
building.
But not
content with this, the good Tom had
designed a giant canvas, 115 by 15 meters, which is equivalent to four courts
of basketball (NBA) and it took seven days in to place in front of the old
façade (has a perimeter of 316 meters, is sectioned into two parts and weighs
in total 850 kilos), to cover the works of remodelling, at the same time
giving publicity in a dark background... that ready! The company that built it
and installed, Embrace Building
Wraps, tells us which was the wrap most important in the
United Kingdom in the time to do so.
If you
are not convinced of invest in this building, now yes, we got to the best (at
least for me), and it's the collaboration of Paul Cocksedge, a
designer of international renown, which has worked for Swarovski, BMW,
Mercedes-Benz, Hermes or Sony. He had to make the staircase, and put hands to
work, thinking and designing 984 hours of his life (someday I will know as
counted the hours), as he says in his video, soon knew that he wanted a
staircase live (he called the living staircase), and he designed it so that it
could enjoy it during the journey and after of the journey. To achieve this he did three things: the
stair shaft was eliminated and introduced a recreation areas, placed a large
number of plants around the perimeter, and reduced the width of the staircase
to the minimum.
The
numbers are the following: the staircase covers four floors of the building,
with a total of 87 steps, has a diameter of 5.5 meters and a height of 12.5;
the main structure is made of steel in different sections (to be able to
introduce it out of the window) and welded on-site, its weight total is 12.4
tons; the planters of the balustrade are designed to withstand 593 plants;
total weight, including the balustrade, is 15.8 tons, to this should add 3.2
tons of white oak paneling, I love the wood!.
Paul
was helped by another acquaintance, the Arup
engineering company (already know, that of the infinity edge pool), they
were responsible of the calculation and dimensioning, the construction had
another great professional, Peter Dann. As I have already said, all the staircase
is covered with white oak, brought directly from New York, a very good wood
with quality for our coatings since it has an excellent hardness and
durability. In addition, in this case, has the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification, with it
is controlled that the forest from which is extracted is managed with
environmental, social and economic standards. Using this certification we avoid
the illegal logging, the violation of human rights, the use of child labour,
and other unpleasant elements.
The
detail is in the design, so finally, I must do mention of the lamp that hangs
on the first floor of the staircase, the creation of another famous artist: Ingo Maurer, who shows us
with an exclusive design of its signature, the lamp Zettelz-6, a new
way to give light to our lives. As you
can see, I not lied when I said that Ampersand had gathered a large group of
professionals... and artists! Bye bye.
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