Rendering of 8 Canada Square, London. Credit: Kiasm
Rendering of view west toward the city from 8 Canada Square, London. Credit Kiasm
Rendering of ground and lower level at 8 Canada Square, London. Credit Kiasm
Rendering of new street and transportation connections at 8 Canada Square, London. Credit Plomp
The publication interviewed KPF Principal Elie Gamburg about KPF’s plan to carve sections out of the outdated office tower, transforming it into a sustainable, mixed-use destination workplace.
As cities around the world struggle with a stubborn glut of vacant and under-used office space in their central business districts, KPF’s planned overhaul of 8 Canada Square, a skyscraper in London’s Canary Wharf neighbourhood, points to a promising solution. As Elie explained in an interview with Bloomberg CityLab, this building met the needs of its time—expansive floor-plates and a central location—but in the wake of the pandemic, needs have changed. Outdoor space; ventilation; the flexibility offered by a variety of floor plate sizes; and proximity to urban amenities like retail, restaurants, and culture, these are the critical attributes for today’s successful office projects.
To shape the glass obelisk of 8 Canada Square into the kind of lively office destination that enriches its surroundings, KPF put forward a plan of strategic subtraction. Removing sections of the tower allows daylight and natural ventilation to penetrate further into the building while breaking up the floor plan to give future users a greater variety of spaces. New terraces support passive cooling infrastructure in the form of solar chimneys and provide tenants with occupiable outdoor space. These interventions support the project’s sustainability ambitions, increasing energy efficiency while reusing the majority of the existing building’s structure and thus preserving its embodied carbon. The ground floor could potentially become retail and restaurant space, while certain higher floors might house apartments or hotels in addition to offices. “The hope,” Elie says, “is that the building would be a social ecosystem.”
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