Very Light Industry
Since the 1990s, the architectural practice CZWG has been enhancing the banks of the Thames, the river that snakes through London, with architectural brilliance. Contextualism and historical references are key to their riverside schemes’ success. Piers Gough CBE, the G in CZWG, states, “We have a history of reinterpreting industrial riverside structures for residential use. Dundee Wharf was a riff on cranes and mills, Cascades on grain elevators, Millennium Harbour on cantilevering control rooms and Seacon Tower was channelling exoskeleton support structures. At Rivermark for Taylor Wimpey London, the towers are like well oiled ribbed cooling cylinders of some imaginary industrial process.”
Dundee Wharf was built in 1997 by Irish developer Ballymore. Rectangular brick blocks of varying heights are positioned in a horseshoe shape. The seven storey principal elevation facing the Thames is a grid of alternating stacks of Juliet balconied windows and French doors opening onto balconies. The projecting balconies are framed by steel skeletons resembling inverted pylons. Attached to the corner closest to the river is an 11 storey tower and projecting from this is a steel skeleton tower of terraces taking the inverted pylon concept to its logical conclusion. A residents’ lounge sits on top of the skeleton tower like a bird’s nest surrounded by metal branches.
