An office and retail development in central London gave GEZE UK some big ideas for a bespoke entrance solution.
Four Kingdom Street is the first of two office buildings to be completed at British Land’s canal-side Paddington Central development.
The nine-storey re-designed building comprises of more than 145,000 ft of space near to Paddington railway station. With communal roof terraces on all floors, a roof garden with views over Little Venice and sporting facilities, including the highest basketball court in London, it needed a proud entrance to complete an imposing aspect.
A tailor-made solution was devised with Focchi S.p.A., a leading company in the curtain walling sector, which was commissioned to execute an industrial aesthetic with city chic, created by architects Allies and Morrison.
GEZE UK worked with its German parent company to adapt its TSA 325 NT manual revolving doors to produce two, three-leafed, glass-topped entrances with extra height – the doors are 3.5m high compared to the standard 3m.
The doors have positioning drives which mean that after someone has walked through them, they continue to rotate until parked with the leaf wings close to the edges of the openings. The parking mechanism is driven by a motor installed beneath the floor.
The doors were installed within the line of the building to provide a flush frontage under the overhang of the first floor. Inside, the leaves of the revolving doors are powder coated to match the façade and echo the engineering and transportation elements of the design concept – a subtle nod to the heritage of the site - a former railway goods yard.
Between the revolving doors is a pass door powered by GEZE’s Powerturn swing door operator.
This aesthetic was applied inside and out: each elevation features vertical and horizontal aluminium fins of many shapes and sizes which lend a bold aspect to Four Kingdom Street.
It incorporates a structural steel frame and rougher, industrial materials, not usually incorporated into commercial offices, which contribute to its personality. Focchi describe it as “an office building with a bit of an edge”.
Said Andy Howland, director of sales and marketing for GEZE UK: “Four Kingdom Street presented us with an exacting and challenging brief which required us to be adaptable to meet those needs. We liaised with our parent company in Leonberg to ensure that we could meet the desired spec without compromising the integrity of the products and in doing so were able to deliver a bespoke configuration for this special project.”