The Circle

Tower Bridge, London

Separated from the River Thames by the warehouse-lined canyons of Shad Thames, this ‘inland’ site comprises two mainly residential buildings either side of Queen Elizabeth Street. They follow the back-of-pavement line except for a huge intervention centrally on Queen Elizabeth Street, where a cylindrical space creates two semi-circular forecourts serving the two apartment entrance halls and car park entrances. Each entrance hall leads to two cores each serving a quadrant of the plan arranged around four courtyard gardens to the rear. Ground floors are commercial spaces, shops, offices and a health club. The street elevations respond to their London stock brick warehouse neighbours, but here the metal windows are finished in light gold, the parapets undulate and balconies are bracketed on pine logs. The central forecourt elevations are in deep blue glazed bricks, the space reading as a circular seam of cobalt in the canyons of London stock brick. Client: Jacobs Island Company