Residential

Wellington House

Distinctive form and integrated artworks lend character to a prominent apartment building

Information / data

Client: Land Securities
Dates: 2007—2012
Architect:
John McAslan + Partners

Consultants

David Bonnett

WSP

Waterman Partnership 

Hann Tucker Associates

Mace Group

Arcadis

Georgina Russell (Artist)

Gerald Eve

Pell Frischmann

General Contractor:

Wates


The ‘flat-iron’ plan with a central core angles back from tightly radiused prows, giving equal prominence to both principal façades and shaping a building that is read in the round rather than from a single viewpoint. JMP collaborated with the artist Georgia Russell to develop a continuous facade treatment in red Jaipur sandstone. The stone is intricately incised to form a subtle, large-scale relief inspired by patterns of the wind and birds in flight. The artwork changes in appearance according to the shifting quality of sunlight playing over its surface. Stone fins projecting from window reveals add more texture in oblique views.

In a contemporary interpretation of the traditional mansion block, the main body of the building is defined as a single, masonry-clad volume while the ninth floor is differentiated with zinc and glass cladding, and registers as an attic storey against the skyline. The result is a building that combines confident urban presence with fine-grained craftsmanship, using material, form and art to animate a prominent city corner and enrich the public realm.