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BUILDING
 
 
Greenwich Peninsula Low Carbon Energy Centre
The Optic Cloak
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DESIGNER
 
 
C.F. Møller
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CONTEXT
 
Location
C.F. Møller, Greenwich Peninsula, Low Carbon Energy Centre, Conrad Shawcross, London, Buro Happold, Knight DragonThe 3000 m2 Greenwich Peninsula Low Carbon Energy Centre, situated in a prominent location at the entrance to the peninsula, adjacent to the Blackwall Tunnel Approach, is a highly visible and important new landmark that demonstrates the applicants’ and stakeholders’ commitment to sustainable and affordable energy for all.
The complex of the interventions
C.F. Møller, Greenwich Peninsula, Low Carbon Energy Centre, Conrad Shawcross, London, Buro Happold, Knight Dragon
Relationship with the location
C.F. Møller, Greenwich Peninsula, Low Carbon Energy Centre, Conrad Shawcross, London, Buro Happold, Knight Dragon
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DESCRIPTION
 
Art and architecture in completed energy station
C.F. Møller, Greenwich Peninsula, Low Carbon Energy Centre, Conrad Shawcross, London, Buro Happold, Knight DragonC.F. Møller Architects, artist Conrad Shawcross and developer Knight Dragon have completed a major new art and architecture collaboration for the Greenwich Peninsula Low Carbon Energy Centre.

C.F. Møller, Greenwich Peninsula, Low Carbon Energy Centre, Conrad Shawcross, London, Buro Happold, Knight DragonThe Greenwich Peninsula is one of London’s major urban development areas, including over 10,000 new homes, over 300,000 m2 of office space and the conversion of the former Millennium Dome into the indoor arena renamed The O2.

Construction started in 2015, and has completed in 2016, and the building footprint further allows for flexibility in adopting new energy technology over the building’s substantial lifetime.

The Greenwich Peninsula Low Carbon Energy Centre will be an important new landmark that demonstrates a commitment to sustainable and affordable energy for all.

Situated in the prominent location adjacent to the Blackwall Tunnel Approach, the building houses technically advanced boilers and combined heat & power plant that provides heat energy for the businesses and 10,000 consented new homes of the Greenwich Peninsula Masterplan.

Guided by a desire to demystify the process of energy generation, the machine room and flexible ancillary office accommodation is supplemented with a visitor centre that will offer an interactive educational experience for prearranged groups of visitors.

The Energy Centre sits on a plinth that responds to the neighbouring Dreadnought Building with a brick facade that conceals the building’s ancillary functions. The building footprint allows for exibility in adopting energy technology over the building’s substantial lifetime and is clad in silver panels whose profiles vary giving the building a human scale. Roof top plant is screened behind a full-height parapet, while the massing of the flue enclosure is manipulated to create ‘the blade’ – a tall and slender place-making statement for the gateway to the Peninsula.
Sculptural landmark
C.F. Møller, Greenwich Peninsula, Low Carbon Energy Centre, Conrad Shawcross, London, Buro Happold, Knight DragonDesigned by British artist Conrad Shawcross, the cladding of the 49 metre high stack tower unites sophisticated engineering and complex optic research to create an impressive sculptural concept on a huge scale: The cladding for the structure is formed of hundreds of triangular panels that fold and flow across the surface of the tower forming complex geometric patterns that visually break up the flat planes to create an uneven, sculpted surface that plays with the vanishing points and perspective.

The panels are perforated so as to exploit the phenomena of the Moiré Effect, and at night an integrated lighting design produces a shifting series of ‘compositions‘ lit from within the structure.

The work of art by Conrad Shawcross is named ‘The Optic Cloak'
.
C.F. Møller, Greenwich Peninsula, Low Carbon Energy Centre, Conrad Shawcross, London, Buro Happold, Knight Dragon
Prepared for the future
C.F. Møller, Greenwich Peninsula, Low Carbon Energy Centre, Conrad Shawcross, London, Buro Happold, Knight DragonTo demystify the process of energy generation, the Energy Centre’s machine room and flexible ancillary office accommodation is supplemented with a Visitor Centre offering an interactive educational experience for prearranged groups of visitors.

To the south of the plan, two stories of accommodation consisting of a visitor centre and office space are provided.

The office accommodation is located at the ground oor behind a dramatic double height entry lobby. Approximately 98m2 of flexible office space is provided in addition to fully accessible WCs and welfare facilities.

The visitors centre is located on the first floor and is accessed by a ambulant disabled stair and DDA compliant lift. The proposals are for an interactive experience that demystifies the process of energy production within a dramatic double height space of approximately 139m2.
The Massing
C.F. Møller, Greenwich Peninsula, Low Carbon Energy Centre, Conrad Shawcross, London, Buro Happold, Knight DragonDue to operational and the legislative requirements of the Clean Air Act, the flue termination points were required to be +54.30 above ordinance datum (+49m from the finish floor level). This presents a significant opportunity for the project and the wider development.

C.F. Møller, Greenwich Peninsula, Low Carbon Energy Centre, Conrad Shawcross, London, Buro Happold, Knight DragonThe purely rational response would be for two separate prefabricated flues to serve the Energy Centre’s boilers and CHP equipment. However, by combining the flues within a blade-like structure, a striking addition can be made to the city’s skyline.

The flues are located to the west of the plan and in parallel to the building. This is to allow for a rational machine room plan that locates all flues to the west with room for plant replacement to the more-readily accessible east facade.

The size of the machine room is determined by the operational requirements of the equipment installed at day one and also to allow for future expansion as demand increases. The height of the machine room parapet approximately aligns with the adjacent Dreadnought Building.
The Blade
C.F. Møller, Greenwich Peninsula, Low Carbon Energy Centre, Conrad Shawcross, London, Buro Happold, Knight DragonThe proposals provide the opportunity for a tall, slender focal element that acts as an ‘urban marker’ for the gateway to the Peninsula.

C.F. Møller, Greenwich Peninsula, Low Carbon Energy Centre, Conrad Shawcross, London, Buro Happold, Knight DragonA consistent parapet height is maintained for the machine room whose parapet responds to the adjacent Dreadnought building. The ancillary structures and retaining structure are located so as to respect the scale of the Dreadnought Building’s old school wall and yard.

The massing of the building is broken down into a more ‘urban’ scale by extending the blade massing down through the massing of the machine room.

The blade is then visually ‘lifted’ to be presented to city.
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VIDEO
 
 
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ECO-SUSTAINABILITY
 
Architecture and sustainability
C.F. Møller, Greenwich Peninsula, Low Carbon Energy Centre, Conrad Shawcross, London, Buro Happold, Knight DragonResponding to a cross-party drive to increase the use of Combined Heat & Power (CHP) across the UK and to realize a vision of decentralized energy power generation in London, the Greenwich Peninsula Low Carbon Energy Centre houses technically advanced boilers and CHP that provide heat energy to the businesses and homes due to be built on the Peninsula in the coming years and is part of the Peninsula’s Sustainability Strategy.

The Energy Centre is the largest new build residential heat network in Europe, saving 15,000 – 20,000 tonnes of carbon every year.

Heat energy will be distributed via a District Heating Network (DHN) from the Energy Centre to each plot across the development.
C.F. Møller, Greenwich Peninsula, Low Carbon Energy Centre, Conrad Shawcross, London, Buro Happold, Knight Dragon
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LOCATION
 
Continent
Europe
Nation
United Kingdom
State
England
Region
London
County
Greater London
Town
London
Neighborhoods
Greenwich
Address
Millenium Way
 
 
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MAP
 
 
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TYPOLOGY
 
Main
ARCHITECTURE
Industrial buildings and plants
Energy production centres
Monuments, decorations, furnishings, graphics
Facades and decorative elements
Other architectural structures
Roofs, casings
Additional
ARCHITECTURE
Buildings for offices and professional practises
Offices
Industrial buildings and plants
Secondary structures
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CHRONOLOGY
 
Project
2008 - 2014    
Realisation
2015 - 2016
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AWARDS
 
2017
WAN Awards
Metal in Architecture

World Architecture News
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CLIENT
 
 
Royal Borough of Greenwich
Knight Dragon
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DIMENSIONAL
DATA
 
Surface
sq.m. 3,000
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LANDSCAPE DESIGN
 
 
C.F. Møller Landscape
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STAFF
 
Project
C.F. Møller Architects
Associate designers
Conrad Shawcross
Environmental design
Buro Happold
Infrastructure
Ove Arup & Partners
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CREDITS
 
 
Photos © Mark Hadden
Drawings © C.F. Møller Architects
Text edited by C.F. Møller Architects
Courtesy of C.F. Møller Architects

C.F. Møller, Greenwich Peninsula, Low Carbon Energy Centre, Conrad Shawcross, London, Buro Happold, Knight Dragon



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