New Ugly Buildings for Hammersmith Park

TV Centre - 1 Wood Crescent. Ugly or Fugly?

For sheer ugliness it would be hard to beat the new buildings being built by Stanhope and Mitsui in Hammersmith Park, just east of the children's playground. 

Faced in grey concrete in the brutalist style, this ugly construction towers over its surroundings, even blocking out the view from many of the expensive new flats in TV Centre. 

The new development is called "TV Centre - 1 Wood Crescent", and is described at the official website as "a 9 storey building with 111,765 sq ft of prime office space". That's an ugly office block to you and me.

TV Centre

View from the Children's Playground in the park

It surely did not have to be this way. The rest of TV Centre is genuinely attractive; the Helios building with its golden statue was lovingly restored, and the whole development has a liveable feel to it, despite its size.  It's almost as if someone at Stanhope said "Right, enough Mr Nice Guy, let's build cheap and ugly from now on". 

Grey Concrete

But surely not this ugly? The grey concrete facings on the west elevation recall the worse of 1970s architecture. The new building is described as having "views over Hammersmith Park and the surrounding White City area and beyond", which is certainly true. Sadly, for those of us inside the park looking up at the new building towering over us, we have a less pleasant view to enjoy.

Official Site

You can see more about the development of 1 Wood Crescent at the official site. The architects are Morris & Company. 

  

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