City of London Information Centre
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Hufton & Crow (website) Download Original
Contemporary information centre on a sensitive site opposite the south transept of St Paul’s Cathedral
The visitor centre's triangular plan evolved from analysis of principal pedestrian flows across the site, and is orienatated towards St Paul’s to welcome people approaching it.
A folded metallic envelope wraps 140m2 of internal accommodation formed by a steel frame braced with structural ply and clad in 220 pre-finished stainless steel panels.
This structural solution minimised the thickness of the structural envelope, and enabled a considerable degree of prefabrication - the steel frame was craned onto the site and assembled over the course of several days.
The interior environment is regulated using borehole heating and cooling by way of pipes sunk 60m into the ground.
The building envelope is highly insulated, and is oriented to allow maximum natural daylight with minimum summer heat gains while the sloping roof facilitates the collection of rainwater which is recycled for toilet flushing and garden use.
Data
- Begun: Jan 2007
- Completed: Oct 2007
- Floor area: 135m2
- Sector: Civic
- Address: St Paul’s Churchyard, London, EC4M 8BX, United Kingdom
Professional Team
- Architect: Make
- Client: City of London
- Structural engineer: Arup
- Services engineer: Arup
- Quantity surveyor: City of London
- Main contractor: Skanska
- Facade access consultant: Reef
- Cost consultant: Davis Langdon