Bloomberg European HQ - AKT II & Fosters & Partners

ST Awards 2018 - WINNER - Project of the Year 

Located on a uniquely challenging site, totalling a million square feet of bespoke end-user-led office space, Bloomberg’s European HQ comprises two integrated buildings over a common basement podium island site in the City of London and is setting new standards in quality of design and sustainability.

The whole building has been designed around a specific way of working: as the workforce enters the building, they are guided to the ‘Pantry’ at the top floor via the ‘Vortex’, and then filter back down the building using either the central spiralling ramp or by using the scenic lifts, which use an off-set rear-mounted running frame; a world first.

The Vortex sits in the main reception of the Bloomberg European HQ in London, envisaged as the place where the building’s different users first converge before moving up to the Pantry. The space is defined by three large curved walls of timber, respectively rotated 120 degrees and reciprocally connected at the top, creating a twisting effect in this large hall. The underlying geometry is strictly connected to the hypotrochoidal function that describes the seven-storey connecting ramp, which sits right above the vortex. The structure consists of a double wall, constructed as a stressed skin in a series of pre-assembled cassettes, where the main joists have been carefully oriented to generate the curvature of the surface, but keeping the timber elements straight.

To view the full article please go to Special Edition 2018.

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