Squire and Partners submit plans for new hotel in EC1
According to Squire, the site, opposite Moorfields Eye Hospital on City Road, provides the inspiration for “a striking facade which expresses the idea of the optical and the visual.”
Following the angular lines of the island site, the proposed building presents a striking form facing principally onto City Road, and tapering towards its apex. Responding to the Moorfields Eye Hospital opposite, and taking inspiration from the 1980’s artworks of Bridget Riley, the facade is expressed as a triple glazed skin enlivened with differing patterns of transparency, opacity and solidity to convey diagonal slopes breaking across an underlying vertical structure.
Manipulation and modulation of light, both internally and externally, give the facade richness and an ever-changing face on this prominent site, as well as assisting solar performance to create a sustainable development.
The conjunction of the vertical and the diagonal create a visual effect of depth and movement, and express the activities taking place within the building. At the upper levels the facade openings become larger to express the more social uses and exploit the panoramic views.
At ground and lower ground floors, the building skin ‘lifts’ on the diagonal to reveal the hotel lobby, public bar and restaurant, all clearly visible from the street.
On the first floor a business centre will provide serviced offices designed to meet the needs of local small and medium-sized businesses. Floors 2-6 provide hotel bedrooms, and on the 17th floor a ‘skybar’ and restaurant will offer far-reaching views across London.
