MARK SQUARE, HACKNEY

Flanking Mark Street Gardens, the public garden of the Grade I listed St Michael’s Church in South Shoreditch, our scheme addresses a number of key constraints and opportunities in a somewhat unconventional manner.

The form and massing of our concept is perceived through a series of shifting volumes whereby each volume addresses a complex set of predetermined requirements and site constraints; namely providing pedestrian access to Mark Square, framing key views of the Church, protecting the daylight of neighbouring residents and providing external amenity space for the office occupiers. The dynamic arrangement of the shifting volumes presents a carefully considered and well-balanced overall composition.

The façade is articulated through layered large format reflective glazed panels that follow a regularised grid. Although simplistic in appearance, the layering and subtle variations in the panelling provide varying degrees of reflection of St Michael’s Church and the Gardens, whilst also offering interesting glimpses of the workspace behind

Each panel is a deep double glazed unit, whereby the outer pane has a lower level of reflectiveness and the internal pane has a mirrored frit either over the entire pane or around the perimeter. Intentionally this allows the facade in daylight to be read almost uniformly, but as daylight drops the façade starts to become animated in a more random composition.