HWKN has designed a landmark new building at Art-Invest Real Estate’s Canada Water Dockside scheme. Located in the London Borough of Southwark, HWKN’s new building marks its architectural debut in the UK.
It is one of a collection of three exceptional headquarter buildings, a core part of the breakthrough urban development envisioned for the commercial heart of the wider Canada Water regeneration area.
In collaboration with the scheme’s master planner, BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, Art-Invest Real Estate UK and the local community, HWKN has designed an office for the future, a radical combination of new workspaces and amenities for both tenants and the nearby community.
HWKN’s contribution, the next generation of the office building, will provide an unparalleled range of inspiring spaces for office goers over their workday, and creates the opportunity for them to do the best work of their careers. 12 stories high, the building offers c.250,000 square feet of rentable space. The building is intentionally exotic, unforgettable, unique: terraces ascend its angled sides, each terrace overflowing with vegetation. Says HWKN Founder, Matthias Hollwich, “Our building suggests the atmosphere of a vacation resort while creating a place that fosters life choices along with focused productivity, corporate culture, and personal communication.”
The building is a showcase for HWKN’s unique design principles: the use of contextual materials, the sense of joyous properties, and the creation of unique spatial qualities. “No design decision was made subjectively or randomly,” says HWKN partner, Olga Snowden. “The building is conceived to meet the most stringent embodied-carbon targets and to receive a BREAM Outstanding rating. Thus, the sculptural massing of the building is a product of meticulous planning to reduce the amount of the building form’s structural support.”
HWKN felt inspired to create an unforgettable contribution to London’s famed architectural heritage and to its future ambitions as a city. Along with its partners, BIG and Art-Invest Real Estate, HWKN is thrilled to be underway at Canada Water Dockside.
