Chiswick Park Urban Workplace

By Redazione The Plan - 11 January 2010

Situated directly opposite Gunnersbury Tube Station, within walking distance of the shops and amenities of Chiswick High Road, this 33-acre site is currently halfway through its development as an urban workplace environment. When completed, Chiswick Park will provide c. 140,000 mq of gross office space plus ancillary uses, including leisure and retail facilities, accommodated in twelve buildings arranged around a central lake with waterfall, bridge and boardwalks, and extensive soft landscaping of grass and semi-mature trees. Chiswick Park has delivered an environment favouring people rather than vehicles. Designed for pedestrian priority, all vehicular movement is routed behind the buildings and the central communal areas. Car-parks screened by planting are situated at the rear of the buildings and in undercroft areas beneath the buildings. Facilities onsite enhance the work-life balance, supporting the concept of social sustainability. The park is a public space, which is always open to everyone. The six four storey buildings completed are of similar appearance.
The elevations are fully glazed to maximize outside awareness for the occupants. The buildings provide large internal areas of fine spatial quality, unobstructed by cores. The project has targeted efficiency in built form, in construction and post completion management. The energy strategy involves fixed external sunshades and active external fabric blinds on the east and west elevations (operated from a roof-mounted weather station) to reduce solar gain, combined with a displacement system that has low running costs and makes extensive use of the outside air for cooling without additional refrigeration for a large part of the year.
The floor plates are limited to a maximum span of 18 metres from window to core and are supplemented by natural daylight from the atria. The project's commitment to buildability and lean construction benefited from productive workshop discussions between the...