New Court, London by OMA with Allies and Morrison

摘要

The new HQ for the Rothschild merchant bank is on the very confined site the firm has occupied since 1809. The big moves are to lift the bulk of the building in two places: at street level, supplying views beneath it to a courtyard and Wren's St Stephen Walbrook: and by lifting a 'pavilion' building above an intermediate roof garden. It is tall, and right behind the Wren, but its shimmering skin is unassertive and on a typical London grey day dematerialises. It's all about the top and the bottom: in between, you get a big if finely-crafted lump of standard office floorspace. The new 'public' space at ground level is however an illusion: through no fault of the architect it is off-limits to normal mortals. RIBAJ verdict: can a bespoke City building, OMA's big UK coup, win the Stirling? We think not. It's still just offices, with a twist.