The Zetter

Chetwoods Architects, London, 2004

 

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At night, the modern character of the hotel comes to life 

Edmund Summer/VIEW (website)     Download Original

  • At night, the modern character of the hotel comes to life    
  • Shutters allow coloured lighting at windows    
  • The entrance and reception desk    
  • The upper floor lobby area    
  • Bar area at foot of atrium, with serving hatch in the centre of the wall    
  • Glazed balustrades help increase apparent wisth of atrium    
  • New top floor of seven rooms availablle added to the existing building, set back so as to be hidden behind the parapet when seen from the street    
  • Inside a top floor room    
  • Typical room on floors 1-4    
  • A standard fit-out responding to existing building geometry    
  • Neat shutters that provide blackout and some acoustic protection    
  • Site plan    
  • Basement plan    
  • Ground floor plan    
  • First to forth floor plan    
  • Fifth floor plan    
  • Section    
  • Cut away showing pivital role of atrium    

Hotel, created in a former Clerkenwell warehouse, which balances a modern agenda with its quirky industrial character, in a conservation area in central London

The front-to-back crosswall defines the entrance space and deals with the one metre height difference across the site. The old brickwork of the crosswall is exposed as it rises through the building.

A spiral stair, hung from the ceiling, leads up to the restaurant level and down to the basement. At ground floor level the atrium’s role is less central, providing a small bar-space and is serviced from a hatch in the restaurant’s bar.

A new, steel-framed, top floor has been added, set back behind the existing parapet. There are 13 outward-facing rooms per floor on floors one to four, and the top floor with seven.

The glazed atrium roof provides for rapid smoke exhaust, allowing open balconies and due to the plan of the corridor it to be used in two directions for escape.

The old windows have been replaced with industrial-scale sash windows giving the restaurant excellent daylight. Built-in furniture designed by Chetwood and bathrooms came as prefabricated pods.

Water is used directly recycled and bottled in the basement from grey water and by extracting ground-source water helps to cool the water fed to the fan coil in rooms.

Data

  • Begun: Sep 2002
  • Completed: Mar 2004
  • Floor area: 2,620m2
  • Sector: Hotel
  • Total cost: £5.1M
  • Tender date: May 2002
  • Procurement: JCT 98 with Contractors' Design
  • Address: St John’s Square, London, EC1M 5RJ, United Kingdom

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