The AJ100 practice\u2019s scheme for student accommodation provider Scape would replace existing buildings at 231-235 Southwark Bridge Road with a standalone tower, plus improved public realm and two restored listed townhouses.<\/p>\n
Morris + Company says the development, if built, would be one of Europe\u2019s tallest purpose-built student towers \u2013 potentially matching Cunniff Design\u2019s 45-storey, 633-bedroom Cirrus Point tower in Leeds, which is believed to hold the title at present.<\/p>\n
The practice says the proposal is \u2018organised around a highly efficient central core\u2019 which maximises daylight, outlook and flexibility, and provides views of London. The scheme also includes amenities for study, socialising, wellbeing and community uses.<\/p>\n
Architecturally, the tower \u2018tapers and chamfers as it rises to form a distinctive and elegant silhouette\u2019, while the fa\u00e7ade is \u2018conceived as a sculpted monolithic surface of smooth pigmented precast architectural stone, with deeply carved reveals exposing darker textured aggregates beneath\u2019, the practice adds.<\/p>\n
If approved, the project will retain two locally listed townhouses which will be \u2018carefully restored and brought back into active public use\u2019, and frame a new pocket park on the site of a disused single-storey taxi office, which will be flattened.<\/p>\n
Joe Morris, founder and director of Morris + Company, said 231-235 Southwark Bridge Road had been designed to meet \u2018an extraordinary combination of acoustic, spatial and urban constraints\u2019 including neighbouring railway lines and the Ministry of Sound nightclub.<\/p>\n
He added: \u2018Our ambition was never simply to deliver a student housing tower. We wanted to improve everything the project touches: the experience of students, the quality of public space, the future of historic buildings and the character of London\u2019s skyline. Every design decision has been driven by that objective.\u2019<\/p>\n
Southwark Council will now decide on the development, which neighbours Maccreanor Lavington\u2019s controversial Borough Triangle<\/a> scheme featuring four brick-clad towers between 10 and 44 storeys high, together delivering 892 homes.<\/p>\n