British architect Nicholas Grimshaw explains the impact that limited resources had on the radical housing block he designed with Terry Farrell, in this exclusive video interview created for our high-tech architecture series.
Completed in 1970 by Farrell and Grimshaw Partnership, Park Road Apartments is a ribbed-aluminium-clad residential tower with curved corners and strip windows that overlooks Regent’s Park in London.
The architects had a limited budget to work with, so clad the exterior in ribbed aluminium in order to keep the cost of the project down, which led to the building’s pejorative nickname The Biscuit Tin.
In addition to being the first cooperative housing to win permission to build in central London, it was also the first residential building in the UK to have a central core.
Now a Grade II listed building, Park Road is an exemplar of high-tech architecture with its use of industrial materials, flexible interior and interrogation of the building envelope.
Read more on Dezeen: https://www.dezeen.com/?p=1468227<br />
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