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Arundel Great Court is sensitively situated in the heart of the Stand in London’s Embankment. Crucial events in the history of the site were the formation of the Embankment and the construction of the Aldwych in 1913 at the South end of Kingsway, prior to which the site had been backlands, river wharves and river related industry.
Currently, Government, institutional and commercial buildings which confront the Thames from Westminster to the City generate a context which includes the Shell Mex, Whitehall Court and most recently, Embankment Place.
The site should be seen in relation to contexts and views. It is part of the street scene of the Strand, both sides of fairly consistent large blocks of heights. The Strand elevation is composed of friezes of stone clad or concrete fins of varying heights. The heights of these components are derived directly from the columns in the facades of neighbouring buildings or from those close-by. This ‘taxonomy’ of columns restores the vertical aesthetic and proportion to the site that is so characteristics of the existing buildings in the area. The proposed building acts to record and reflect its own context like a mirror.
Viewed from the south bank the buildings along the river create a kind of superstructure of architectural events which appear above the picturesque tree-lined landscape of Embankment Place to create one of the worlds most famous skylines. Somerset House and Shell Mex form part of this skyline and an argument has been made for the skyline of the riverfront to be broken by the residential buildings planned by HCLA.
This move particularly masks the office portion of the site. Notwithstanding the site lines identified by Richard Coleman’s visual analysis, we believe there to be score in the Central area of the site for additional volume.
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