240 Blackfriars

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240 Blackfriars by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, 2014
Blackfriars Road, Southwark
London, May 2023

“A simple extruded parallelogram has been cut away in several planes: diagonally to the north, to orientate the building towards the river; at the base, to increase public space at street level; and across the roof, to create a dynamically-shaped sky room. 240 Blackfriars is a major development composed of two distinct components that seeks to define the skyline at a pivotal junction of road, rail and river. The site is initially sliced in two to create a large commercial parallelogram and a small residential trapezoid in plan. The parallelogram is extruded up 90 metres (20 storeys) to form a sharp-edged crystalline volume, which is then cut away to respond to context: to the south to minimise the impact to Ludgate House, diagonally to the north to orientate the building towards the river and city; at street level to add generosity to the public realm and across the roof to create a reflective triple-height ‘sky-floor’. In contrast, the dark masonry trapezoid is extruded up six levels and then carved away to create loggias, terraces and gardens for its ten residential apartments. Completed in April 2014, 240 Blackfriars provides over 220,000 square feet of high performance office space, animated by ground-level retail units.” (240 Blackfriars, Archilovers)