Squires Preforated Hoxton Artotel
Published on 09-11-2009 by Skyscrapernews.com
Proposals by Squire and Partners for a new 352 room hotel in London have been formally filed with Hackney Council.
Designed for client Art'otel as their first hotel in the United Kingdom, the site stands firmly in Hoxton on the fringe of the City of London on what is very much an under-utilised site, the majority of which is taken up by a sprawling car park.
Taking advantage of the prominent position it occupies overlooking a junction, Squire and Partners has designed a circular tower overlooking the corner of the site with two lower-rise wings running from it.
Standing 18 storeys tall, the height of the tower element has been reduced through the planning process so that it relates better with the nearby Shoreditch House in terms of scale.
The aesthetic of the building is quite a change for Squire and Partners who seem to have abandoned their clean modernism for something a bit more fancy that's been inspired by punch cards that were used to programme old industrial power looms.
The cladding system is extravagantly detailed and consists of a punched aluminium outer skin with a series of rectangular holes on it that will not only texture the exterior of the building but also protect it direct rainfall. This has been coloured with a metallic polyester powder-coated finish to create a bronzed look that is a close shade to the traditional brick colours used in the area.
Behind the aluminium goes a layer full height double-glazing to absorb some of the sun and reduce loss of heat from the wind. This is followed by an acoustic inner skin that reduces the exterior noise, and further minimizes internal heat-loss.
The wing blocks with their pseudo-warehouse appearance have a similar idea behind them although these are covered in brick rather than punched aluminium, again with partially covered windows.
The end result is a complex bespoke solution that should not only give the building a distinctive look, assuming of course the cladding has the finish it deserves, but also create a unique atmosphere within the hotel rooms whereby traditional windows have been abandoned for something rather unconventional.
Squire and Partners replaced Scott Brownrigg, whilst earlier designs for the site were done by a number of architects including Bluebase.
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