**Principal Place: A Vision of Modern Urban Development**
**Introduction to Principal Place**
Principal Place stands as a testament to six years of meticulous work led by Foster’s Brookfield and Concord London. Spearheaded by Grant Brooker, a director at Foster and Partners, this extraordinary project is the result of collaboration with Richard Hamlett, Delon Director for Brookfield Properties, who has dedicated over seven years to its realization. Situated in Shoreditch, a vibrant area known as London’s new city, Principal Place symbolizes connectivity and innovation, bridging old and new.
**Location and Vision**
Shoreditch, often referred to as the heart of London, is a melting pot of cultures and businesses. The site of Principal Place was once home to Spitalfields Market, which has been rebuilt into a hub for global corporations like Amazon, whose 5,000 employees now occupy the premises. This transformation reflects the area’s evolution from a historic market to a bustling tech and business district.
**Architectural Design**
The design of Principal Place is rooted in the industrial aesthetic of Shoreditch, with exposed structural elements and open spaces that emphasize connectivity. The building features a series of smaller sections linked by atriums and courtyards, allowing natural light to permeate deep into the heart of the structure. This layout not only enhances the visual appeal but also fosters a sense of community among its users.
**Amenities and Public Spaces**
The development is designed to cater to both workers and visitors, offering amenities like six restaurants, bars, and cafes that provide a vibrant atmosphere. These spaces are seamlessly integrated with the public realm, creating a dynamic environment where people can work, socialize, and enjoy the city. The building’s transparency and curved glass corners further emphasize its connection to the surrounding area.
**Interior Design**
The interiors of Principal Place reflect a contemporary urban sophistication, with carefully chosen materials and finishes. Each apartment boasts panoramic views, achieved through meticulous planning and attention to detail. The design team focused on maximizing efficiency while maintaining a luxurious feel, evident in the flush-fitting wardrobes and high-end appliances. The selection of two color palettes—champagne and caviar—adds a touch of elegance, with dark kitchens featuring stainless steel finishes that mimic the look of copper.
**Sustainability**
Sustainability was a core consideration in the design process. The building incorporates energy-efficient systems and materials to minimize its environmental impact. The open layout and use of natural light contribute to energy savings, while the integration of green spaces further enhance sustainability. Principal Place sets a benchmark for eco-conscious urban development.
**Collaboration and Innovation**
The success of Principal Place is a result of collaboration between Grant Brooker and Richard Hamlett, who have worked tirelessly on the project. Their partnership has led to innovative solutions in design and construction, ensuring that Principal Place meets the highest standards of quality and functionality.
**Conclusion: A New Era for Shoreditch**
Principal Place represents more than just a building; it signifies a new era for Shoreditch, transforming an underutilized area into a thriving urban district. By blending historical elements with modern design, Principal Place has created a space that resonates with the vibrancy and energy of London. As a model of contemporary urban development, Principal Place stands as a beacon of innovation, sustainability, and community.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enprincipal place represents six years of incredible work between Foster's Brookfield and Concord London my name is grant Brooker I'm a director of Foster and partners the architects and lead designers for all aspects of this extraordinary project this is an extraordinary area Shoreditch it's the new city it connects so many different parts of London and it's a magnet for many different companies we've been working in this area for almost 30 years building and developing in and around the city but right here in this place with the market buildings the old Spitalfields market which we've rebuilt with Allen and ovaries headquarters but surrounded by a whole new type of market trading an incredible attraction in London so it's amazing to be here this close to the city and building for the first time residential space really right in this vibrant heart of shortage my name is Richard Hamlett I am the delon director for Brookfield Properties who's worked on this principal place scheme for the last five years of my career but in truth the project's taken in excess of seven years of hard work my design team and the people who originally envisaged this development right from the beginning we have behind us the most amazing building which is occupied by Amazon they have 5000 of their employees here now a complete vote of confidence for both the area the scale and the quality of the development it's not just as 5,000 Amazon employees that we have here we have the vertical community which consists of six really good restaurants bars which support that from Kamino which the Spanish tapas bar through to the light bar and market which will be arriving here early 2020 delivery first-class dining for for the people that work here but also the public and this new part of public realm and space created right from the border of Shoreditch from the city this building is about connections how you connect to the plaza how you connect to shortage how you connect to the different types of work types and places that have done it it's a very special location it took a very special occupant to come here to realize those advantages the structure and you can see it sort of all around you even here in the lobby spaces has been completely expressed and it's totally exposed so really what you see is what you get and we wanted that that industrial aesthetic it's very important to the market to the areas around here how they connect to the past and we the feeling here was we wanted everything stripped back it's a very long it's a very long building and it's broken into a series of smaller parts and they are themselves broken down by giant atria courtyards that come right the way through the building so the daylight penetrates right the way down into the heart of the space and is seen here with the lobby you can almost read it as one continuous slot of very open and accessible space that bringing daylight through here at ground level and then at the upper levels would day like coming down through the courtyards in the atrium the plaza step courts the garden spaces just the same as this lobby area here they're all the glue that holds this new sequence of buildings together it makes it a very special new district placing itself within within shortage the contrast between the two buildings is really important on one side you have the much heavier matte metal with its heavily express structure and shades of the office building on the other side the much lighter more finer grain and texture of the residential town but the two languages in their shading and their profiles the use of glass they talk to one another so they're related how any building touches the ground connects to the spaces around it is incredibly important and so here we have the entrance to the tower directly behind me and the scale the generosity the transparency of that place with its curved glass corners essential aspects of the design the lobby in any building is it's a really important part of the address and here we're again it's vital that it connects absolutely directly into the plaza and a very key part of the building and how the building is seen and how the tenants occupants of the building how they actually enjoy the space so one part of that is how we brought all the amenity spaces of the building to a floor just above the lobby so they're really part of the plaza too so we have to pull the bar the gymnasium properly connected to the surroundings so that connection the connection that we want to make between this very special lobby space and all those are wonderful kind of amenities is all carried out in this one stare and stare became really interesting element in all of the composition here just a floor above the lobby we created another space we use it as a bar and another kind of social amenity for the building perfectly located just above street level here easy to kind of walk in and through so you feel when you're in any of these parts of the building directly connected to the outside to the people in the streets in the places that surround the building which gives it this I think a fantastic energy hopefully look at people are real joy with the experience of being in the gym in the bar in that pool just seeing the people in the life that surrounds a field that that really belongs right in the heart of shortage it was an extraordinary opportunity for us to be invited by the client to actually design not just the entire complex but to be able to design the interiors and that gave us the opportunity to create what we felt would be a contemporary home in the middle of the city the setting gives you London you couldn't see more than you see from the windows these apartment buildings so the detailing the feel the generosity of the island spaces for us reflect what a kind of a comp urban sophisticated setting should be and that's really what we've tried to realize throughout all of the interiors of the building Ronnie and I have worked together in this project for the last six years or so and Ronnie and his team have been responsible for the absolute detailed evolution and delivery of every aspect of this book the project was designed inside out and looking at the aspect of the details we put and all the effort we've done on the project to maximize the floorplate efficiency we have managed to give every apartment panoramic view so if you walk to anything that apartment don't have any money in to interrupt those use so in order to give high floor great efficiency we have designed everything with great care so all the wardrobes end up being flush with with the with the walls we have strict tolerance which is around one to two millimeters and we were maintaining this on-site our kitchens and our flooring materials were selected carefully so we have two pallets for each of the apartments we have the light and the dark which we called the champagne and the caviar listen on the selection of the dark palette for the dark kitchens we had to go for copper at the beginning backsplash but then given how the copper reacts whether the first time we couldn't select the material itself so we had to go into a new research we took a lot of time around the year to find stainless steel coloured stainless here were the pigments called all the way for the material itself to cover that so in case you scratch it it stays to give the same effect and to maintain design intent we were after one of the hardest element was how the interface of the facade will meet the fit out of the building so in order to maintain that flush the the model itself flush with the wall we had to work on all shadow gaps all around the the facade itself moves in different directions and the wall the wall itself follows the building movement the facade moves differently because it takes all the wind load and that that cap also goes all the way around we have blind box integrated blind box following the same shadow gap that we have one more aspect of the project which is incredibly important and it's really at the heart of its creation was how sustainable can it be and really driven from our client how he would make that work this incredibly generous space which brings everybody workers people who live here people are just passing by enjoying the restaurants and cafes and bars that surround it and that life comes right into the heart of this project and that's part of this sustainable core of the development its accessibility its openness our ability for the buildings to breathe how the air passes through them the way they share energy every single aspect of the project that could make it greener has been done but of course key to all of these parts is developing this abandoned lost part of London and making it a rich new urban environment and a really essential part of the new city you\n"
