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Tower 42 London, Building, Development, Image, Architect, Picture, Design
Tower 42 Redevelopment : Architecture Information
Skyscraper Base in London, England, by Studio Egret West (SEW)
Tower 42, London, UK - 5 Feb 2008:

SEW, after a high profile competition, won the opportunity to reconsider
the Tower 42 estate in Central London. Massive change in the immediate
vicinity of the Tower 42 estate is leading to a new generation
of city experiences focused on Bishopsgate. The lower levels of the
Tower 42 estate now need to step up to respond to this
new environment.
To successfully compete with the offer of the new we need
to generate flexible and efficient space with a strong identity that
builds on the Tower 42 brand. Not just more space but
more, desirable, Tower 42 space. Everything that we have
designed stems from the tower, giving a holistic identity to the entire
estate.
Mimicking natures way of seeking to accomplish the most with
the least we have applied a packing and cracking concept
to the entire Tower 42 estate leading to a honeycomb form relevant
to the geometry of the existing tower. Each leaf of the existing tower
is half a hexagon. Taking this as a starting point we have developed
a geometric form that allows the tower to quite literally grow into
the site, transforming it from object building to a more organic piece
of the City that appears to have grown informally over time.
Instead we propose that the existing and new floorplates grow
into each other using both hexagonal and octagonal forms. Thus continuing
both the horizontal and vertical architectural vocabulary of the tower
to the very edge of the site and creating a situation where the tower
is no longer isolated in the centre of the site but stretches out
with every face of the new accommodation having equal importance.
Everything starts from inside out. There will be no back.
Tower 42 proposal: text & images from Studio Egret West 5 Feb
2008
Tower 42 - formerly Nat West
Tower, City of London, UK
Architect: Richard Seifert - R. Seifert & Partners

183m high, 47 floors
Tallest building in London until 1 Canada Square in 1990
Damaged by IRA bomb in 1993
Vertigo 42: seafood & champagne bar on Floor 42
Tower 42 development architect - Studio Egret West
Natwest Tower architect
: Richard Seifert
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Context photos © adrian welch:

Centre Point, tower
Richard Seifert, Architect

photo © Nick Weall
Lloyds Building, City of London
Richard Rogers Partnership

photo © adrian welch
Broadgate Development
London Architect
London Buildings

World Architecture : e-architect
- key buildings across the globe
Comments / photos for the Natwest Tower page welcome: info@e-architect.co.uk
Tower 42 London - page: adrian welch / isabelle
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