OMA and Allies & Morrison complete Commonwealth Institute overhaul and housing
12/05/2016.
Kensington High St, Kensington, London W8. [LON] UK
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
OMA and Allies and Morrison have completed the redevelopment of the former Commonwealth Institute in London, adding three blocks of private housing that have helped fund the transformation of the protected building into a new home for the Design Museum
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph © Sebastian van Damme
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph © Sebastian van Damme
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph © Sebastian van Damme
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph © Sebastian van Damme
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph © Nick Gutteridge
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph © Nick Gutteridge
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph ©Nick Gutteridge
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph © Sebastian van Damme
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph © Nick Gutteridge
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph © Sebastian van Damme
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph © Hufton+Crow
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph © Hufton+Crow
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph ©Nick Gutteridge
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph ©Nick Gutteridge
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph © Sebastian van Damme
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph © Nick Gutteridge
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph © Hufton+Crow
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph ©Hufton + Crowe
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph ©Nick Gutteridge
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph ©Hufton + Crowe
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph ©Philip Vile
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph ©Philip Vile
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison Photograph ©Hufton + Crowe
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison. Photograph ©Nick Gutteridge
Elevation. Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison
Axonometric. Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison
Volumes. Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison
Apartments Floor level. Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison.
Apartments Floor level. Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison.
Apartments Floor level. Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison.
Apartments Floor level. Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison.
Commonwealth Institute Housing blocks by OMA and Allies & Morrison. Photograph ©Philip Vile
Dutch architecture studio OMA partnered with London firm Allies and Morrison to create Holland Green, three limestone-clad housing blocks, around the Grade II*-listed former Commonwealth Institute in Holland Park, Kensington. Sales of the 56 one- to five-bedroom flats within the development have helped fund the conversion of the 1960s building into a new home for London's Design Museum. Due to reopen in November, the building will feature an interior designed by John Pawson.
Description of project by OMA
HISTORY
The Commonwealth Institute, by Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and Partners, completed in 1962, marks the transition from British Empire to Commonwealth. Regarded as an important modern building by English Heritage, it was first listed in 1988, and again in 1990 for its special architectural interest. In 2002, only just after having undergone major refurbishment by Avery Associates (2000/2001), the building was closed to the public. In 2006, the government tried to delist the Commonwealth Institute, but failed, saving the building from demolition.
COMPETITION
In March 2008, after a short competition, OMA was selected from a shortlist of six international architects, which included Rafael Moneo, Rafael Viñoly Architects, Eric Parry Associates, Caruso St John, and Make Architects. The competition sought to explore the potential for a new use of the main exhibition hall and replacement of the administration wing (of lesser interest*) by residential development to help fund the refurbishment of the main hall.
URBANISM
In OMA’s proposal, the demolition of the administration wing is interpreted as an opportunity to liberate the main exhibition hall, enabling it to be appreciated as ‘a tent in the park’, in line with its original intention. The proposed residential buildings sit as free standing objects within the park landscape. Oriented to align with the exhibition hall, they aim to integrate the hall into an ‘ensemble of buildings’.
Within this ensemble, each building is scaled proportionally – like Russian Dolls – to react to the scale of its immediate surroundings: The front building, set back from the street to maintain the existing plaza condition, responds to the scale of the neighboring buildings on Kensington High Street. The largest of the three new buildings, tucked back within the site, concealed from both Holland Park and the High Street, corresponds to the height of Park Close’s two adjacent sixties’ buildings. The smallest building, fronting the park, mimics the height of the Parabola.
The Commonwealth Institute, by Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and Partners, completed in 1962, marks the transition from British Empire to Commonwealth. Regarded as an important modern building by English Heritage, it was first listed in 1988, and again in 1990 for its special architectural interest. In 2002, only just after having undergone major refurbishment by Avery Associates (2000/2001), the building was closed to the public. In 2006, the government tried to delist the Commonwealth Institute, but failed, saving the building from demolition.
COMPETITION
In March 2008, after a short competition, OMA was selected from a shortlist of six international architects, which included Rafael Moneo, Rafael Viñoly Architects, Eric Parry Associates, Caruso St John, and Make Architects. The competition sought to explore the potential for a new use of the main exhibition hall and replacement of the administration wing (of lesser interest*) by residential development to help fund the refurbishment of the main hall.
URBANISM
In OMA’s proposal, the demolition of the administration wing is interpreted as an opportunity to liberate the main exhibition hall, enabling it to be appreciated as ‘a tent in the park’, in line with its original intention. The proposed residential buildings sit as free standing objects within the park landscape. Oriented to align with the exhibition hall, they aim to integrate the hall into an ‘ensemble of buildings’.
Within this ensemble, each building is scaled proportionally – like Russian Dolls – to react to the scale of its immediate surroundings: The front building, set back from the street to maintain the existing plaza condition, responds to the scale of the neighboring buildings on Kensington High Street. The largest of the three new buildings, tucked back within the site, concealed from both Holland Park and the High Street, corresponds to the height of Park Close’s two adjacent sixties’ buildings. The smallest building, fronting the park, mimics the height of the Parabola.
ARCHITECTURE
The calm, orthogonal geometries of the new residential buildings pose a deliberate contrast to the dramatic hyperbolic geometries of the exhibition hall’s roof. The facades of the new buildings register the amplitude of the roof’s curvature like ‘graph paper’.
Each residential façade is a hybrid of two different façade types: one being an array of identical vertical windows, the other essentially an expression of the buildings’ structural grid. The latter offers the apartments magnificent views and also incorporates their outdoor spaces, including the large terraces on the upper floors. The two façade types coexist in a seemingly accidental relationship. The addition of skyboxes gives a certain plasticity to the building volumes, allowing (some of) the apartments to extend outside the building perimeter, redirecting the view back to one’s own façade.
CI REFURBISHMENT
The Commonwealth institute’s main exhibition hall will be the new home of the Design Museum, offering nearly three times the space of original location at Shad Thames, meanwhile dedicated to house Zaha Hadid’s archives. With the exception of the roof and it’s supporting structure, the building has been almost entirely rebuilt. A new basement has been installed beneath the full footprint, and the floors within have been rebuilt at new levels to accommodate the needs of the Design Museum. The outmoded 1960s facades have been replaced with energy efficient fritted facades, designed to resemble the original.
The refurbishment of the Commonwealth exhibition hall has been funded from revenue made from the residential development to the point that the Design Museum has been offered a for-purpose-building as though it were new, without the obligation to pay rent.
LANDSCAPE
Intended as a composition of free-standing buildings in a green setting, the design of the landscape is of primary importance. Its romantic character is intended to contrast with the angular geometries of the buildings, endowing the modern architecture with a deliberate ambiguity. Vehicles (as much as possible) are banned from the site, leaving the possibility of a landscape with almost seamless transitions between hard- and soft-scape.
Underneath, there is a continuous basement, connecting the three residential buildings and the Design Museum at a single service level. Car parking and storage space are provided for the residences with private access to each residential block, alongside service access to the Design Museum. This basement also houses a number of collective facilities for the residents, such as a spa sky-lit swimming pool, cinema, and gym.
The Commonwealth institute’s main exhibition hall will be the new home of the Design Museum, offering nearly three times the space of original location at Shad Thames, meanwhile dedicated to house Zaha Hadid’s archives. With the exception of the roof and it’s supporting structure, the building has been almost entirely rebuilt. A new basement has been installed beneath the full footprint, and the floors within have been rebuilt at new levels to accommodate the needs of the Design Museum. The outmoded 1960s facades have been replaced with energy efficient fritted facades, designed to resemble the original.
The refurbishment of the Commonwealth exhibition hall has been funded from revenue made from the residential development to the point that the Design Museum has been offered a for-purpose-building as though it were new, without the obligation to pay rent.
LANDSCAPE
Intended as a composition of free-standing buildings in a green setting, the design of the landscape is of primary importance. Its romantic character is intended to contrast with the angular geometries of the buildings, endowing the modern architecture with a deliberate ambiguity. Vehicles (as much as possible) are banned from the site, leaving the possibility of a landscape with almost seamless transitions between hard- and soft-scape.
Underneath, there is a continuous basement, connecting the three residential buildings and the Design Museum at a single service level. Car parking and storage space are provided for the residences with private access to each residential block, alongside service access to the Design Museum. This basement also houses a number of collective facilities for the residents, such as a spa sky-lit swimming pool, cinema, and gym.
More information
Architects
OMA, Allies & Morrison
OMA Team
OMA Partner in Charge.- Reinier de Graaf
OMA Project Director.- Carol Patterson
OMA Project Managers.- Mario Rodriguez, Isabel Silva, Fenna Wagenaar, Mitesh Dixit, Richard Hollington III, Beth Hughes
Allies and Morrison Team
Allies and Morrison Partners Team.- Simon Fraser, Robert Maxwell
Allies and Morrison Director.- Neil Shaughnessy
Allies and Morrison Associate Directors.- Joel Davenport, Heidi Shah
Allies and Morrison Associates.- Sean Joyce, Johanna Coste-Buscayret
Allies and Morrison Team.- Dinka Beglerbegovic, Fabiana Paluszny, Stuart Thomson
Structural Engineer
Arup Structures
Services Engineer
Arup Services
Acoustics
Arup Acoustic
Facades
Arup Facades / FMDC
Quantity Surveyor
AECOM
Landscape Architect
West 8
Interior Design
CZL
Lighting Designer
R.A.L.C
Project Year
2016
Area
323,000.0 ft2
OMA. Office for Metropolitan Architecture
Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is an international practice operating within the traditional boundaries of architecture and urbanism. AMO, a research and design studio, applies architectural thinking to domains beyond. OMA is led by eight partners – Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van Loon, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, Chris van Duijn, Jason Long, and Managing Partner-Architect David Gianotten – and maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Doha, and Australia. OMA-designed buildings currently under construction are the renovation of Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) in Berlin, The Factory in Manchester, Hangzhou Prism, the CMG Times Center in Shenzhen and the Simone Veil Bridge in Bordeaux.
OMA’s completed projects include Taipei Performing Arts Centre (2022), Audrey Irmas Pavilion in Los Angeles (2020), Norra Tornen in Stockholm (2020), Axel Springer Campus in Berlin (2020), MEETT Toulouse Exhibition and Convention Centre (2020), Galleria in Gwanggyo (2020), WA Museum Boola Bardip (2020), nhow RAI Hotel in Amsterdam (2020), a new building for Brighton College (2020), and Potato Head Studios in Bali (2020). Earlier buildings include Fondazione Prada in Milan (2018), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow (2015), De Rotterdam (2013), CCTV Headquarters in Beijing (2012), Casa da Música in Porto (2005), and the Seattle Central Library (2004).
AMO often works in parallel with OMA's clients to fertilize architecture with intelligence from this array of disciplines. This is the case with Prada: AMO's research into identity, in-store technology, and new possibilities of content-production in fashion helped generate OMA's architectural designs for new Prada epicenter stores in New York and Los Angeles. In 2004, AMO was commissioned by the European Union to study its visual communication, and designed a colored "barcode" flag, combining the flags of all member states, which was used during the Austrian presidency of the EU. AMO has worked with Universal Studios, Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Heineken, Ikea, Condé Nast, Harvard University and the Hermitage. It has produced Countryside: The Future, a research exhibited at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York; exhibitions at the Venice Architecture Biennale, including Public Works (2012), Cronocaos (2010), and The Gulf (2006); and for Fondazione Prada, including When Attitudes Become Form (2012) and Serial and Portable Classics (2015). AMO, with Harvard University, was responsible for the research and curation of the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale and its publication Elements. Other notable projects are Roadmap 2050, a plan for a Europe-wide renewable energy grid; Project Japan, a 720-page book on the Metabolism architecture movement (Taschen, 2010); and the educational program of Strelka Institute in Moscow.
Architects Allies and Morrison
Allies and Morrison is an architecture and urban planning practice based in London. They operate from our own studios at 85 Southwark Street – the 2004 RIBA London Building of the Year.
They have completed projects throughout the UK and overseas, and are currently working on projects in the Middle East and in North America.
The work of the practice ranges from architecture, interior design and conservation to planning, consultation and research.
39 of their completed projects have won a RIBA Award and they have twice been shortlisted for the Stirling Prize – for the revitalisation of the Royal Festival Hall in 2008 and for New Court Rothschilds Bank in collaboration with OMA in 2012.
In 2015, they were awarded the AJ120 Practice of the Year.
