Crumbling Glasgow office tower set for student housing transformation
October 7 2015
A planned metamorphosis of Pegasus House would see the existing podium activated with full-height glazing and the addition of a sculptural stair core and ‘residential scale’ fenestration to the plinth.
A modular ‘skin’ would then be wrapped around the tower above and extended by a new rooftop overrun to create a new ‘object’ in the cityscape. This façade would be sculpted to provide depth to the skin using white powder coated perforated profiled metal and sandstone colour pre-cast concrete panels.
In their design statement 3DReid remarked: “The removal of the existing 1960-1970’s concrete panel façade and its replacement with a solid sandstone colour pre-cast concrete frame to the base that steps down the hill creates a clean, modern finish that also references the traditional and historical design and materiality of the surrounding buildings.
“The replacement upper façade panels to the tower element take reference from the existing panel form and from it create a modern alternative that will revitalise the current design. The spatial planning of the proposal arranges the amenity facilities along the street level at ground floor along West George Street and lower ground floor along Holland Street to provide ‘shop-front’ style activation, something which the existing offices at these areas lack at present.”
The completed project would offer 213 bedroom spaces within the existing volume in addition to an amenity space on top of the revamped podium.
Residents will benefit from access to a new roof garden
The existing office accommodation is described as no longer fit for purpose
|
8 Comments
#2 Posted by billy jean on 7 Oct 2015 at 23:41 PM
I see this building most days and it's in pretty poor condition. Would it not just be better to pull the whole thing down? These images look good though, a vast improvement.
#3 Posted by Donald on 8 Oct 2015 at 07:40 AM
If I know 3d reid this is probably funded by Donald Trump looking to build another trump towers in Glasgow, and turn blythswood square into a crazy golf park. Existing building is horrendous, this might look ok if they get the detailing right.
#4 Posted by Hidalgo Moya on 8 Oct 2015 at 09:05 AM
#1
Aye, you should keep the crumbling concrete and it should look more like the ruddy Skylon lightning conductor?
…“An unjustifiable, tortured piss-poor artifice?” Wit are you talkin aboot? Mental Troll.
Aye, you should keep the crumbling concrete and it should look more like the ruddy Skylon lightning conductor?
…“An unjustifiable, tortured piss-poor artifice?” Wit are you talkin aboot? Mental Troll.
#5 Posted by Henry Moore's Mother on 8 Oct 2015 at 09:47 AM
Dear Hidalgo,
Yes, that's all very well, but what is your opinion on the design of this proposal? What are you adding to the discussion? Bless.
Yes, that's all very well, but what is your opinion on the design of this proposal? What are you adding to the discussion? Bless.
#6 Posted by GAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..... on 8 Oct 2015 at 11:52 AM
Given the constraints of the existing fabric and the likelihood that the existing pre-cast concrete panels have no inherent structural capability to support new cladding, it is refreshing to see something that makes the most of the building and its limitations. No doubt the introduction of the 'modular skin' will polarise opinion, but it at least provides the opportunity to lift the façade beyond a flat plane with little or no life. As Billy Jean has said (she's not my lover), the detailing will be crucial.
PS: Henry Moore and Hidalgo - please stop flirting, it's tiresome.
PS: Henry Moore and Hidalgo - please stop flirting, it's tiresome.
#7 Posted by The Bairn on 8 Oct 2015 at 14:51 PM
#6 absolutely correct about detailing for such proposals...but I do like it...probably more3D than Reids influence on design...no pun intended and a darn sight more palatable than existing use...only concern is end users having opportunity to take potshots at passers by from terrace shown on image 3.
#8 Posted by Stephen Barker on 18 Oct 2015 at 14:33 PM
The phrase 'to create a new object in the cityscape' sounds unwelcoming. Good to see a building of that era being refurbished rather than being demolished. I hope the results live up to expectations.
Post your comments
Read previous: Urban Realm begins hunt for Scotland’s top architects
Back to October 2015
Like us on Facebook
Become a fan and share
News Archive
Search News
Features & Reports
For more information from the industry visit our Features & Reports section.
At least the Skylon tower was a beautifully elegant thing. This is just piss poor.
I failed to see any justification in the Design Statement for the removal of all the existing precast panels, or for designing and working with that existing module. Why make the building something that it's not?
There was no reference in the statement to anything that is structurally 'crumbling' in the building's precast panels.
The design statement reads as a tortured artifice that simply cannot justify this ultimately arbitrary and poor design.
Plus, it's just plain ugly. If you're going to make a landmark, better put some art into it. We're all going to have to look at it for a long long time.