Our design for the New Kingdom Hospital is inspired by the Bimaristan, the Middle East care-giving clinic and ancestor of the modern hospital. Like the Bimaristan, our design provides a close connection between the patient and nature, that relationship helping the patient’s recuperation.
Working with the UK charity Dramatic Need, PLP Architecture has designed a new community arts centre in Viljoenskroon, south of Johannesburg, in South Africa. The charity, which recognises the value of the arts to education and humanitarianism, invites international and local artists to volunteer their professional skills and expertise to help make a difference to the lives of children in some of the most impoverished and isolated parts of of the country.
Designed for the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), this headquarters building is located on the city’s richly landscaped Corniche waterfront: a green zone that has earned Abu Dhabi the title “Garden City of the Gulf”. This greening of the site provides broad areas of shading; the site becomes a cool garden in the city.
Unilever London Headquarters (100 VE), a landmark structure overlooking Blackfriars Bridge and the River Thames, was completed in 1931 and listed in 1977. While distinguished on the exterior, the plan of the building was cramped, with a series of narrow fingers overlooking dark and dreary light wells to the rear. The interior was highly compartmented, with narrow circulation corridors that had evolved over time as areas were modified. Staff restaurant and breakout spaces were in the basement, visitors met in windowless rooms at ground floor, and generally the interiors were cut off from the stunning panoramic views.
Heron Tower is a response to a clearly identified need for highly serviced modern office space for international companies at the heart of London. The site, at the junction of Bishopsgate, Houndsditch and Camomile Street, has been a significant gateway to the City of London since Roman times. Responding to the technical and social demands of the new workplace, the building is arranged around a series of three story atria or villages, which will serve as gathering spaces for thirteen different tenants in the building.
Two Kingdom Street is part of Paddington Central, a mixed use scheme developed on the site of the old goods yards to the northwest of Paddington Station. The building is set between the busy elevated Westway and, to the south, the quieter environment of Kingdom Street, the landscaped spine of the development.
Located north-east of Madrid’s city centre in the Campo de las Naciones commercial district, the Endesa headquarters in Madrid fuses innovative workplace design with a highly progressive environmental programme. Won in international competition, the project was seen by the client – the largest electricity provider in Spain – as an opportunity to mark its commitment to low-energy design and the development of a sustainable approach to building services.
The new precinct River City Prague, formerly a disused railway yard, links the Karlin district to the Vltava Riverbank. The new buildings frame a pedestrian zone and public park along a bio-corridor. Danube House, the first and flagship building anchoring the recently established district, forms a natural landmark, a gateway to River City when arriving from historic Prague.
The renovated World Trade Center project is a case study showing how a 1960s structure, anti-urban in its form, can be reconceived as a project which initiates the regeneration of a whole quarter of the city. The WTC Amsterdam is located in the most attractive area of South Amsterdam adjacent to WTC/Zuid, the main railway station. It forms the gateway to the city’s ambitious new masterplan devised by the city authorities to turn Zuidas into a dense business and residential quarter reinforced by new cultural, educational and recreational facilities. However, the existing buildings of the World Trade Centre – four 1960s office slabs connected by lower structures and open courtyards – were dark and unwelcoming.
The Ruth Deech Building combines residential, academic and support functions, with 110 student en-suite rooms, an 80-seat lecture theatre, three 25 seat seminar rooms, and catering facilities. During term breaks and summer months, the building also serves as a conference centre and summer school.