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Bush Lane House
Arup Associates | |
| location | London |
| function | office |
| contributed by | davidb |
This building was intended to straddle the proposed Jubilee Line extension along Fleet Street. Consequently the designers were faced with the problem of having restricted access to the ground and where foundations could be located. To overcome these difficulties, the building sits on four pairs of huge circular columns. Sprouting from these is a connected, diagonal grid of tubes, which act structurally to carry all the column free floor plates, and also provide bracing. The tubes are reputed to be water filled to dissipate heat in the event of a fire, and prevent the structure collapsing. Fortunately, this has never been put to the test. After going to all this effort, the route of the Jubilee Line was changed, and was routed East on the other side of the River Thames, so all the structural gymnastics were in vain. Nevertheless, the building is distinctive and unique, if not a little more brashly detailed than one would normally expect.
i was there with drake and scull in the seventies
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