December 11 2020

Fund manager Legal & General has published plans to develop a former department store at 109-112 Princes Street, Edinburgh, as a 210-bed hotel.

A design team led by ICA have been commissioned to oversee the £50m redevelopment which will retain the listed facade and a permeable ground floor frontage while redeveloping the interior of the site through to Rose Street.

This approach will see confused and misaligned interior floorplates demolished, enabling a rationalised new build to be inserted that maximises views of Edinburgh Castle and allow for purpose-built facilities to be created such as an events space, basement spa and rooftop bar.

Central to the chosen approach will be a new infill facade conceived as a 'delicate curtain' at 111 Princes Street framing guest bedroom balconies. Employing a series of double-height stacked arches designed to echo its listed neighbours and defining a new pedestrian connection to Rose Street.

Outlining their facade solution ICA wrote: "For this facade it is proposed to introduce a new thin veil facade which is highly decorated - with the decoration almost acting as a visual storytelling device.

"This sculptural approach leaves a number of potential avenues of exploration open - with potential ideas such as taking sculptural cues from the facade decoration of 109 and 112 and using themin a modern collage, or the creation of a piece of newly commissioned sculptural art or even just a series of different textured surfaces.

"To achieve the required aesthetic it is proposed to use a Glass-fibre Reinforced Concrete which would allow maximum flexibility of design, detailing and finish."

The proposed materials palette comprises glass-reinforced concrete, panelled render and zinc with white glazed brick specified for interior courtyard elevations. 

11 Comments

#1 Posted by Nairn's Bairn on 11 Dec 2020 at 15:12 PM

Elegant, beautiful, nice setback from the street. I like it. Use of GRC will be interesting to see.

#2 Posted by shabbadoo on 11 Dec 2020 at 17:49 PM

Very nice indeed! A good response to the streetscape. Perhaps, could the mid-section utilise a 'double height' arch, to pick up on adjacent bay window forms....?

#3 Posted by The Bairn on 11 Dec 2020 at 20:57 PM

At last something worthy of these pages!!
Overall a pleasant response to its location.
Mind you that flat roof is a bit start IMHO and probably worthy of more detail or even a wee dummy roof introduced and setback like its neighbour.

#4 Posted by Brian Sewell on 12 Dec 2020 at 11:13 AM

CZWG China Wharf 1983

#5 Posted by George Buchanan on 12 Dec 2020 at 12:02 PM

Delightful

#6 Posted by Sir Ano on 14 Dec 2020 at 09:29 AM

I like it, I like it a lot. I wonder how it will be viewed in planning given its prominent location.

#7 Posted by Peter on 14 Dec 2020 at 11:23 AM

Hat tip to all involved.

#8 Posted by Archie on 14 Dec 2020 at 11:54 AM

@Brian Sewell not really though.

#9 Posted by Robert Leslie on 14 Dec 2020 at 12:10 PM

At last an architect with vision and a sense of symmetry well done.

#10 Posted by MV on 14 Dec 2020 at 14:51 PM

I see all you guys have satrted the Christmas drinking early. I enjoy the positivity towards schemes, especially given how rare that is on here, but this proposal is simply weird. The description is weird architorture nonsense. Just weird. Weird.

#11 Posted by Positive Comments Only on 15 Dec 2020 at 17:32 PM

Mmm... Arches are so hot right now!

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