Grosvenor Place
Offices within a listed building for an international firm
Directly in front of the gardens of Buckingham Palace, this seven storey building forms part of a distinguished terrace in the French Renaissance style, faced in white portland stone and topped by a fishscale mansard roof.
At the heart of the interior is a full-height stairwell, flooded with light from a large rooftop glazed ‘lantern’. Each floor looks into this void through an arched stone colonnade.
Thus this stairwell is not simply a functional item — an essential source of circulation, daylight and air — but also transformed into an elevated theatrical set where one’s daily activities are enriched by the drama of the setting.
Palladio describes his design in his Quattro Libri dell’Architettura, in the chapter ‘Of stairs and various kinds of them’ — that stairs void in the middle succeed well, because they take light from above, and those at the top can see all those ascending, and are likewise seen by them.
Although called ‘cantilevered’, these types of stair are not actually cantilevered in structural terms. Each tread is supported on three sides, with only one end left unsupported. The treads of 19th-century stone staircases were generally built 4½ inches into the supporting brickwork walls.
Section at street level through the front elevation.
The category B office fit-out allows for around 100 desks, plus 3 conference rooms and other ancillary spaces.
