Tomorrow's energy comes from today's ideas
Enel extends the date to join the international “WinDesign” contest to August 30, 2025. A unique opportunity to imagine the new design of wind turbines.
The new shopping centre named Coal Drops Yard is housed within a pair of formerly derelict warehouses beside King’s Cross station. Heatherwick Studio was asked to transform the two linear brick buildings, which were once used to store coal, as part of a wider redevelopment of the industrial area around the train station.
To unify the two blocks, the practice carried out a 35-metre extension that sees two buldges introduced to the sides of the slate-covered gabled roofs. This undulating portion of the roof is elevated and serrated glazing inserted to create a viewing platfom that overlooks King’s Cross, and an avenue of shops below.
While 52 steel columns in fact support the new cantilevered structures, the studio wanted to create the illusion of the blocks “lightly touching in mid air”.
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Coal Drops Yard, which opened to the public today, will house around 60 shops in a plot bracketed by Central Saint Martins art school and Tom Dixon’s studio.
The buildings originally built in 1860s were used to store coal for distribution around London, using carts and barges on the nearby canal network.
“These amazing Victorian structures were never originally built to be inhabited by hundreds of people, but instead formed part of the sealed-off infrastructure of London,” says Heatherwick.
“After serving so many varied uses throughout the years, we’ve been excited by the opportunity to use our design thinking to finally open up the site, create new spaces and allow everyone to experience these rich and characterful buildings.”
Thomas Heatherwick’s studio is also working on a new campus for Google as part of the King’s Cross development with the Danish architect Bjarke Ingels.
- Studio:
- Heatherwick Studio
- Studio founder:
- Thomas Heatherwick
- Project leaders:
- Lisa Finlay, Tamsin Green
- Team:
- Jordan Bailiff, Einar Blixhavn, Erich Breuer, Darragh Casey, Jennifer Chen, Dani Rossello Diez, Ben Dudek, Andrew Edwards, Alex Flood, Daniel Haigh, Phil Hall-Patch, Steven Howson, Sonila Kadillari, Michael Kloihofer, Nilufer Kocabas, Ivan Linares Quero, Elli Liverakou, Freddie Lomas, Jose Marquez, Mira Naran, Ian Ng, Hannah Parker, Monika Patel, Luke Plumbley, Jeff Powers, Thomas Randall-Page, Emmanouil Rentopolous, Angel Tenorio, Takashi Tsurumaki, Pablo Zamorano
