b
c
triangular sculptural seating on the viewing
platform that echoes the shape of the
waiting area pontoon.
LEDs mounted in the pier’s structure
uplight the copper coloured battens,
creating a sense of theatre at night time, and
mounted under the parapet, illuminate the
black resin walking surface. The viewing
platform has LEDs running around the
glazed perimeter and the timber seating.Challenges
Dempsey says the biggest challenge the
designers faced was to ensure the
contractors delivered a level of finish to
ensure this public space would ‘feel’ high
quality. “These are people who spend most
of their time making big steel plate and
marine structures. It was initially just a
change to their mindset to get them to
understand we were looking for a precision
that was probably in excess of what they
were normally used to dealing with.”
Bridging the divide between normal
marine engineering and the level of tactile
architectural quality that the architects
insisted on was further challenged by the
design and build project being built overseas
before being shipped to site and craned into
place. “A contractor could very easily have
come back and said they wanted to split it
into a number of parts or make certain
changes,” says Dempsey. “It took a lot of co-
ordination and collaboration between the
engineers and ourselves to complete the
design to quite a significant extent – to
make sure the answer is really the only
answer anyone’s going to choose.”
The final product is a visually arresting,
but somehow familiar structure in many
ways, that both sits well in its context but
breaks with normal pier design to maximise
its location for all users. By allowing an
architect to take the reins in an unfamiliar
typology for them, the client has ensured
that achieving a high quality finish has been
kept at the forefront. In so doing they’ve
delivered a piece of exemplary new
transport infrastructure for London that
also gives some exciting public space to the
community at large.
According to Dempsey, the project’s
success has been most visibly demonstrated
by a visiting US delegation to a major
marine conference in late 2019, who alighted
at the pontoon. “They were blown away to
see that this was the kind of infrastructure
that London produces.” This pier is an
important part of attracting more users to
what is a much more pleasant, as well as
effective, means to get around the city. This pier is an important
part of attracting more
users to what is a much
more pleasant, as well as
effective, means to get
around the cityAll Images © James Brittain70PROJECT REPORT: TRANSPORT FACILITIES & PUBLIC REALMWWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK ADF FEBRUARY 2020
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