The Skyroom is a rooftop event space designed by
David Kohn Architects above the
Architecture Foundation’s London offices.
Opened to coincide with the London Design Festival last month, the
steel structure is enclosed by copper mesh walls and topped with
transparent plastic.
The mixture of enclosed and open-air spaces will be used for lectures, performances and parties.
Photographs are by
Will Pryce.
The information that follows is from David Kohn Architects:
Skyroom
The Skyroom is a new rooftop venue to host events programmed by the
Architecture Foundation. Sitting above their offices on Tooley Street,
the structure offers a range of rooms, both covered and open to the
sky, for different occasions and uses ranging from lectures and
performances to dinner parties and sun-bathing. The project opened to
coincide with London Design Week on 20th September 2010.
The project features a central courtyard open to the sky, framing
the rising form of The Shard being built high above London Bridge
Station. A balcony cantilevered over Tooley Street offers breathtaking
views through the More London development to the Thames and the Tower
of London beyond.
Akin to a small theatre space, the proportions of Skyroom enable it
to be occupied in a variety of different arrangements. Four niche
spaces extend from the courtyard to provide an intimate setting for
meeting and relaxing. On the south facade a louvred screen frames a
Black Tupelo tree with purple autumnal leaves which will eventually
turn an intense bright scarlet, affirming the rooftop as a new ground
and a site available to be colonised by nature.
With a bespoke structure constructed of steel with copper mesh
facades and larch flooring, Skyroom is topped with six Ethylene
Tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) cushions.
The structure and materials used throughout the scheme have been
chosen for their lightness and varieties of transparency: the white
steel structure is like a drawing in space, marking out the territory
of the rooftop and framing key views of the site and sky.
The stainless steel and copper mesh panels create moiré patterns
that lightly obscure their surroundings. ETFE, a material originally
designed by NASA to create enclosures on the moon, is used here in
sizes ranging from 2m sq to 8m x 3m. Stippled with sun-blocking silver
dots, this continues the fabric-like quality of the enclosure across
the roof.
The design of Skyroom is a response to a number of major
constraints: the limited structural capacity of the existing roof;
location of the building within a conservation area with strict
guidelines on the appearance of developments; building to a limited
budget; and access to the roof for construction.
As the roof was not able to support any additional load of either
materials or people, the creation of a new structure above it was
crucial. In order to transfer load into the existing steel columns, a
new steel deck was created, passing through the roof to connect to the
heads of the columns below. Newly built large steel sections enable the
transfer of load through the steel deck into the existing structure.
Excluding the cantilevered balcony, the scheme is set back from the
building perimeter to negate the need for expensive scaffolding on all
sides as well as to comply with planning regulations to limit the
amount of the structure visible from the street and consequent change
in appearance to the overall building.
Additionally, materials used throughout were selected to satisfy the
local authority’s requirement for quality finishes that would age well
and compliment the conservation area.
Both points reveal that there are indeed opportunities to adapt the
capital’s skyline even when faced with the rigorous planning control of
a conservation area.
A limited budget and tight programme were additional factors that
steered the design of Skyroom, which went from detailed design to
completion in just eight weeks. The project, commissioned and funded by
the landlord of Magdalen House, Lake Estates, demonstrates an
imaginative re-use of one of London’s neglected roofscapes and is in
keeping with the Mayor of London’s policy to encourage the occupation
of the city’s rooftops.
from dezeen
