The very unique gouged building in London

History is awash with “spite buildings”, architectural monuments to neighbourly grudges, designed to block views and obstruct daylight. But this is the opposite: a surreal love-thy-neighbour tribute wrought in glazed bricks. Using 3D modelling software, the architects extruded the shape of the rose window in an imaginary cone back to an exact a point on the street corner, from where it is designed to be viewed – which happens to be right outside an espresso bar, so you can have a good gawp while queueing for your coffee. “The council was so supportive,” says project director, David Crosthwait.

“We even talked about having a special paving slab in the street, directing people to look up.” It is a simple (some might say crude) concept. But it was fiendishly complex to execute. A hefty steel frame makes the architectural acrobatics possible, with a series of big arched ribs holding shelves that support the 10 different kinds of specially shaped glazed bricks. “It’s like a big steel wine rack,” says Crosthwait. It looks eye-wateringly expensive, not to mention the extra embodied carbon of all the steel, but Plant says the additional floorspace that the gymnastic feat allows “makes a good return on the investment”.

April 9, 2025 | 5:00 am