Kings Cross’ student housing tower | Glenn Howells Architects

Glenn Howells Architects has completed a 670-unit high-rise student housing development at Kings Cross, London. Designed for student housing specialist Urbanest, the 24,000sq m tower on York Way, rises to 27 storeys with a 14-storey ‘shoulder’, and is the tallest building in the ongoing King’s Cross Central regeneration of the railway lands behind King’s Cross station. The tower and shoulder wraps around a new public courtyard space and sculpture garden at ground level and will bookend a proposed terrace of buildings to be built along Canal Street. The BREEAM Excellent-rated development is designed to feel more like a top-end hotel than a conventional student residence, with a concierge-like reception and an electronic key-fob entry system. The passively-ventilated building has a deep-modelled façade of pre-cast concrete with a reconstituted stone finish and dark bronze-grey fenestration ‘gills’. Designed as generous congregational spaces where students can meet and interact, the lift lobbies and common areas are filled with natural light complemented by high quality robust finishes. The ground and first floor podium contains a café and retail unit, a cycle store, exhibition area, meeting suite, cash point and communal area with the latter being one of two such spaces – the other is on the 13th floor – where students can relax or study, and take advantage of the free-to-use iMacs. Above the podium are the student rooms: a mix of 1-bedroomed studios and a range of cluster types from 3 beds up to 8 beds arranged around a shared living and dining space. The bedrooms are arranged on a modular grid with flexibility for various configurations. There are 4 primary types of units: en-suite single rooms, non-ensuite rooms, studios and luxury rooms on the upper floors with some of the best views over central London. All have under floor heating (controlled by a bedroom thermostat), a spacious study desk poistioned to benefit from natural light, ample storage, 25mb broadband and generous glazing with openable windows protected by perforated screens. Bathrooms and kitchens – whether shared or within the studio rooms – are all completed to a high spec. As well as the ground floor sculpture garden, there are a number of sky gardens including a south-facing garden on the shoulder and at the top of the tower. The project has been completed in time for the beginning of the 2013-14 academic year. Half the accommodation has been leased to the London School of Economics and the rest will be occupied by students from universities across London.