Dezeen Magazine

Calatrava reveals £1 billion scheme for London's Greenwich Peninsula

Santiago Calatrava has unveiled a £1 billion development on the edge of London's River Thames, which will host a new tube station, performance venue and winter gardens topped by a crown-like arrangement of towers.

In this exclusive video, the 130,064-square-metre scheme developed by Knight Dragon is shown rising beside Richard Roger's Millennium Dome on the Greenwich Peninsula – a finger of land that extends into the River Thames in southeast London.

Peninsula Place will be Calatrava's first major UK project.

Calatrava said: "It is an honour to be designing such a piece of the fabric of London, a city I love. In designing this scheme, I have been inspired by London's rich architectural heritage and the very special geography of the Peninsula."

Three tapering towers will stand atop a tube and bus station, theatre, cinema, bars, shops and a performance venue. The illuminated terraced blocks will house offices, apartments and hotels with views of the River Thames, as well as winter gardens below.

Visitors and residents will emerge from the tube station into a 24-metre-high glazed gallery containing the gardens.

A new tubular bridge featuring latticed sides will connect the development with the waterfront. Cables will anchor the bridge to a tall spike, reminiscent of that found on the architect's Chord Bridge in Jerusalem.

Calatrava's Peninsula Place forms part of £8.4-billion regeneration works on the river-side site, which is to include 15,720 homes, a film studio, as well as a new design district, schools, offices and healthcare services.

Greenwich Peninsula is masterplanned by British practice Allies and Morrison, which will also design two residential blocks for the site. Together with Calatrava's tower scheme, they will host 800 homes – just 200 of which will be considered affordable.

Calatrava's Peninsula Place is intended as a gateway to the wider development, where architects including US firm SOM, British architects Marks Barfield, DSDHA, Alison Brooks and Duggan Morris have also been commissioned to design buildings.

"My ambition is for Greenwich Peninsula to be a unique cultural destination for Londoners and visitors to this global city," said Sammy Lee of Knight Dragon. "Calatrava's contribution will help ensure that the UK's biggest regeneration project fulfils its potential to become just that."

Spanish-born Santiago Calatrava is the architect behind the Oculus, which soars above the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York, and the cantilevering Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro.

Calatrava has offices in Zurich, Paris, New York and has recently opened a further studio in Dubai and is working on the Dubai Creek Tower – a slender observation tower expected to surpass the 828-metre-high Burj Khalifa.

The architect – who came in at number 29 on the Dezeen Hot List of the world's most read about industry figures – is also working on the UAE's national pavilion for the Dubai Expo 2020.

Images and videos are by Uniform.


Project credits:

Architect and engineer: Santiago Calatrava
Executive architect: Adamson Associates
Architect PP2: Allies and Morrison
Structural engineer of record: Meinhardt
MEP engineer: AECOM
Quantity surveyor: Alinea
Hotel architect: Reardon Smith
Hotel advisors: Hamiltons
Office advisors: Cushman & Wakefield
Retail advisors: CWM in combination with Anne Hynes Consulting Ltd Traffic Engineer: WSP
Planning consultant: Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners
Gym consultants: RCH
Legals: Forsters
Principle designer: Stace
Urban realm designers: Schulz + Grassov
Daylight, sunlight, wind: Urban Microclimate
Development agreement model: Montagu Evans