St James Square : Building Photos

St James Square building Information from Eric Parry Architects Oct 2007 Eric Parry Architects wins planning consent for landmark project in St James’ Square Eric Parry Architects has won planning consent for a landmark new office scheme in St James’ Square, London. The proposal consists of the complete redevelopment of 8 St James’ Square and the adjacent 7 Apple Tree Yard to provide a new 5 storey office building, and the refurbishment of the Grade II listed 7 St James’ Square. The site lies within the St James’s Conservation Area and the new building will sit between two listed buildings, as well as abutting the historic former Wheelers Restaurant in Apple Tree Yard. This called for a sensitive approach and Eric Parry Architects’ design of the new building takes references from several characteristic features of the historic surrounding buildings. The design pays particular attention to the vertical hierarchy of the façade. The new building will be one storey lower than the existing allowing increased floor heights at the lower level, as well as a generous ground floor and a taller piano nobile. Floor levels above are consistent, but the window arrangement is modulated between floors and first floor openings are more generous with larger windows to emphasise what is the principal level of the building, in the style of a typical Georgian elevation. The building will be constructed from structural brickwork, dark in tone to complement nearby Georgian elevations and to contrast with the Lutyens façade of no. 7. Windows to the façade fronting onto St James’s Square are detailed with gauged brick arches with simpler treatment to the Duke of York Street elevation. Connections between the new building and the listed existing building will be reinstated at a number of levels. The existing building - No 7 St James’s Square - will be completely refurbished and altered, with three residential units being created on the fourth floor of the building. Within the reconfigured courtyard to the rear of 7 St James’s Square, a glazed elevation with vertical shading in the form of closely spaced metal fins is proposed for the north and west faces. These support horizontal mesh walkways that allow access to the stepped elevation. At ground floor level a larger opening is formed to allow views into the courtyard from the end of the reception passage, and first floor. A new landscape scheme will enhance the courtyard and the rear of 7 St James’s Square, with planting at the base of the courtyard, on the side areas of the terrace to the rear of No 7, and on vertical trellises. Project Director Nick Jackson commented: “We are very pleased that planning has been granted. The context of the new building has demanded a well-considered approach and our design lowers the height and reduces the scale, providing an appropriate setting for the listed 7 St James’s Square.” St James Square building info from Eric Parry Architects via ING Media 121007