mossessian & partners nominated for the Country of Honour award
mossessian & partners' new building at 5 Merchant Square has been nominated for the Country of Honour award, selected from a shortlist of over 100 entries from 27 countries.
Situated in London's Paddington Basin, 5 Merchant Square redefines the contemporary office block. The 262,000 sq ft of Grade A office space forms the central icon of the 1.8 million sq ft mixed-use development by European Land, which comprises of six riverside buildings adjoining the canal basin at Paddington, one of Europe's biggest regeneration sites.
Three interlocking triangles, the central of which, a deep, carmine red, thrusts through the middle of the block, make up the floorplan. The building's envelope features varied textures and patterns to emphasise lightness and improve energy efficiency. A cladding of red screen-printed glass frit panels changes the building's appearance when viewed from different angles, keeping it fresh and forms stunning patterns against the surrounding buildings and river without tinting incoming natural light.
The unique shapes of the magnificent, full-height glass atrium create a flood of natural light throughout the building, which is arranged over 15 floors. External balconies on every level give access to outside space and dramatically change the traditional layout of office space. Bold, instantly recognizable yet reacting to its context, the architecture condenses the complexity of the contemporary city into a single block.
Edwin Heathcote, architecture critic for the Financial Times: "Both at the macro and the micro scale it is a thoughtful, considered and finely-wrought structure, folded into its setting, both reflected in and reflecting the waters of the canal. It sets a tone of a serious, sleek and ambitious commercial building, of a type still largely lacking in the west of the city and it will be intriguing to see how it begins to influence its emerging context." (Architects Journal, 4.11.10)
Kieran Long, architecture critic for the Evening Standard: "It is elegant, spare and glassy ... The north façade in particular is beautiful, offering a mysterious deep red surface that is printed on to the glass. Mossessian worked with a perceptual psychologist to create the pattern, which close up looks like hanging curtains but from further away appears as a pattern of passing clouds. It might just be appliqué, but it's a ravishing piece of scenography." (1.12.10)
mossessian & partners are overall and best mixed use winners of the MIPIM Architectural Review Awards for Al Barahat Square in Doha, Qatar, part of Dohaland's Musheireb scheme.
Source: Mossessian & Partners
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