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Empress State Building
Date: 2003
Landscape strategy
Client: Land Securities & Wilkinson Eyre.
The refurbishment of this landmark London building provided an excellent opportunity to create a new public piazza incorporating an art installation consisting of interlocking canopies, a timber frame and floral tapestry.
The towering height of the Empress State Building presented a major challenge as high wind force at the base of the tower originally made the forecourt quite a hostile environment. The new piazza design was laid out in polished niconcrete paving, with seating areas defined by panels of slate and enclosed by bespoke concrete benches. Lines of specimen trees (Himalayan Birch) and clipped evergreen hedges (Yew) acted as wind and noise breaks while drawing visitors’ attention to the central forecourt feature, a raised timber platform with specimen trees planted into the structure (Pin Oak).
The view of the forecourt from within the building, which wraps around the entire space, led us to design a ‘tapestry’ garden, with plants laid out in panels of colour. Lighting plays a critical role in the garden design, particularly at night, where feature lights serve to emphasize the myriad of colours created by the planting. Plant species offering a hue of colours ranging from yellow, blue, purple, white and shades of green where all chosen to catch visitors’ attention.
Clever planning also enabled us to disguise a ramp running alongside the adjacent bus depot – a linear timber planter and mature Hornbeam columns helped to form a background to the forecourt from ground level. The end result was a central forecourt that served to capture visitors’ senses through sight, scent, sound and touch.