The Broadgate Exchange House in London, celebrated for its simple yet ingenious structural system that unifies design and function in the mid-century Modernist tradition, has been selected for the 2015 AIA Twenty-five Year Award. Designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM) and completed in 1990, the Exchange House is a recognizable presence in central London.
Recognizing architectural design of enduring significance, the Twenty-five Year Award is conferred on a building project that has stood the test of time by embodying architectural excellence for 25 to 35 years. Projects must demonstrate excellence in function, in the distinguished execution of its original program, and in the creative aspects of its statement by today’s standards. The award will be presented to SOM in May at the AIA National Convention in Atlanta.
Exchange House, an elegant ten-story office building that spans over the merging tracks of London’s Liverpool Street Station, is located in London’s Broadgate Development. As one of the last remaining areas for development at Broadgate, SOM was able to envision an opportunity to resolve these challenges through a multi-faceted approach encompassing architecture, engineering, and masterplanning.
The structural and architectural solutions for this development were entirely intertwined, embracing the constraints of the site and using them to fuel a clear, elegant solution that dramatically overcomes the challenges beneath it. The building is suspended over the rail lines below via four, seven-story tied arches that bridge 256ft (78m), while only five percent of its footprint touches the ground. The centrally located lift core, fire stairs, and even the lobby are suspended from this bridge structure, touching the plaza beneath it out of necessity for access rather than support. By elevating the building the opportunity to bring an open space beneath was created, connecting Exchange Square to the south to Primrose Street to the north.
Exchange House is the first project in the United Kingdom and only the third international project to win the award. It is the sixth SOM project to win the award.
Related Stories
| Nov 19, 2013
Top 10 green building products for 2014
Assa Abloy's power-over-ethernet access-control locks and Schüco's retrofit façade system are among the products to make BuildingGreen Inc.'s annual Top-10 Green Building Products list.
| Nov 15, 2013
Greenbuild 2013 Report - BD+C Exclusive
The BD+C editorial team brings you this special report on the latest green building trends across nine key market sectors.
| Nov 15, 2013
Metal makes its mark on interior spaces
Beyond its long-standing role as a preferred material for a building’s structure and roof, metal is making its mark on interior spaces as well.
| Nov 13, 2013
Government work keeps green AEC firms busy
With the economy picking up, many stalled government contracts are reaching completion and earning their green credentials.
| Nov 13, 2013
Installed capacity of geothermal heat pumps to grow by 150% by 2020, says study
The worldwide installed capacity of GHP systems will reach 127.4 gigawatts-thermal over the next seven years, growth of nearly 150%, according to a recent report from Navigant Research.
| Nov 8, 2013
Can Big Data help building owners slash op-ex budgets?
Real estate services giant Jones Lang LaSalle set out to answer these questions when it partnered with Pacific Controls to develop IntelliCommand, a 24/7 real-time remote monitoring and control service for its commercial real estate owner clients.
| Nov 6, 2013
Dallas’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2030 advances with second phase of green codes
Dallas stands out as one of the few large cities that is enforcing a green building code, with the city aiming to be carbon neutral by 2030.
| Nov 6, 2013
Energy-efficiency measures paying off for commercial building owners, says BOMA study
The commercial real estate industry’s ongoing focus on energy efficiency has resulted in a downward trend in total operating expenses (3.9 percent drop, on average), according to BOMA's Experience Exchange Report.
| Nov 6, 2013
PECI tests New Buildings Institute’s plug load energy use metrics at HQ
Earlier this year, PECI used the NBI metrics to assess plug load energy use at PECI headquarters in downtown Portland, Ore. The study, which informed an energy-saving campaign, resulted in an 18 percent kWh reduction of PECI’s plug load.
| Oct 31, 2013
CBRE's bold experiment: 200-person office with no assigned desks [slideshow]
In an effort to reduce rent costs, real estate brokerage firm CBRE created its first completely "untethered" office in Los Angeles, where assigned desks and offices are replaced with flexible workspaces.
