Archinect - News

PLP Architecture teases concept metaverse design for upcoming 5,000-piece NFT collection

2022-08-02T13:06:00-04:00

The cadre of high-design firms creating on-demand virtual architecture in the metaverse has grown recently with the announcement of PLP’s upcoming 5,000-piece NFT skyscraper collection, which they debuted earlier last month with help from VerseProp, a virtual property platform.

Ostensibly in keeping with trends indicated by its expanding digital client base, the London-based firm says its collection is meant to “bridge the gap between those interested in both digital and physical real estate.” An opportunity to design your own building alongside a PLP staffer is on offer as well, and they promise each building will have a “valuable commercial utility.”

Image courtesy PLP Architecture

Up for grabs are the owning rights to a digital token derived from a concept building design that PLP says will come embedded with exclusive content such as webinar access and even physical artworks. The firm is pitching this as an exploration into not only the digital design of buildings but also the ap...

Planning approval has been granted to PLP Architecture and Adjaye Associates’ Whitechapel Estate overhaul

2022-05-13T13:55:00-04:00

Tower Hamlets Council has granted planning permission to PLP Architecture and Adjaye Associates’ amended plans to overhaul the Whitechapel Estate in east London. PLP masterplanned the development and designed seven buildings, while Adjaye Associates designed five of the six buildings on the west of the site. The duo first submitted plans for the estate in 2015, which were rejected by Tower Hamlets Council but later approved on appeal.

The revised plan was finally approved after an affordable housing plot was relocated “to a better setting” outside of the scheme, which also is now serviced by more energy-efficient heat pump technology. One-third of the scheme’s now 529 residences are still considered affordable under the approved update.

Adjaye Associates are continuing on a banner year in the face of a recent UK High Court decision to halt the planned Holocaust Memorial in London. The firm has been named to several major development projects internationally in the past six months, including a mass timber design for the Toronto Quayside project and Cleveland’s plan to create an entirely new mixed-use district called the Cuyahoga Riverfront.

PLP Architecture unveils new HQ design for Russian tech giant Yandex

2020-06-24T15:10:00-04:00

PLP Architecture is designing a new "smart headquarters" for Yandex, the Russian tech qiant, in the Gagarinsky District of Moscow. The 170,000-square-meter campus will enable staff to have a singular space for work, recreation, and inspiration, according to the architects.

The titanium-clad building exaggerates the structures sculptural qualities of the proposal, while elevating the structure will allow users to activate the ground floor, opening visitors up to an open plaza on one side with connectivity to neighboring streets on the other side. This ground level will also feature a variety of open public spaces, including restaurants, cafes, and a computer technology museum highlighting Yandex's cultural and technological growth since the early 1990s.

The heart of the building is an open, light-filled central Hub that will house collaborative zones, an auditorium, gadget testing areas, and additional flexible spaces to encourage interaction and exchange. This central Hub will be ...

PLP Architecture wins bid to design Holland's tallest timber and concrete tower

2020-01-02T21:20:00-05:00

The London-based architecture firm, PLP Architecture, recently won the international Delftseplein competition for its hybrid tower project known as "Tree House." The $177m (£137m/€160m) project will stand at 459 feet (140 meters) and will be constructed using mass timber and concrete materials.

Said to be the tallest hybrid structure in Holland, the tower will house 275 apartments in addition to other offerings such as office/co-working spaces, cafes, shops, and a restaurant that will sit on the tower's seventh floor.

"Tree House" project in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.. Image courtesy of PLP Architecture

The 37-story building was one of three competition finalists (along with UN Studio and Group A). According to PLP's project statement, "The building is being designed to stand at the forefront of architectural sustainability and will feature a part-timber structure with a concrete core, significant reused and recycled materials, rainwater collection and reuse and CO2 storage. Exter...

Tallest City of London tower, 22 Bishopsgate, tops out

2019-05-20T15:28:00-04:00

The City of London’s new tallest building, PLP’s 22 Bishopsgate tower which completes next year, has reached its highest point The 62-storey skyscraper for French investment manager AXA IM – Real Assets and development partner Lipton Rogers officially topped out at 294.52m AOD (above ordnance datum) or 278m above ground.

The new 22 Bishopsgate tower (formerly the Pinnacle/Helter Skelter) now stands taller than its nearby City of London neighbors, the Cheesegrater and Heron Tower, but can't quite reach the height of the Renzo Piano-designed Shard near London Bridge.

Rendering of 22 Bishopsgate in its urban context. Image: Purple PR.

PLP Architecture conceives of automated, underground "CarTube" for London

2016-12-08T12:45:00-05:00

Imagine driving into London not on surface streets, but rather in an underground tube with automated, moving tracks designed specifically for electric cars. Like a kind of subterranean track-laden ferry, which drivers would be able to individually join and exit at numerous points, this "CarTube" concept is the work of Lars Hesselgren's research team at PLP Architecture.

Although the proposal uses London as a starting point, the firm isn't limiting it to the U.K., as this Guardian article notes:

If the project’s goal is to reduce street-level congestion, then is a city like London (which already has an extensive public transport system and congestion charge) its prime target? “London is our case study, but chances are it will get built somewhere else where people are desperate for a solution,” Hesselgren says, listing Mexico City, Delhi, Jakarta and Mumbai as the sorts of gridlock-heavy cities that could benefit from the CarTube. “This kind of approach in those places could really make...

With city's approval, London "The Stump" Pinnacle celebrates resurrection as 22 Bishopsgate

2015-11-18T05:00:00-05:00

The City of London skyline is to be dominated by a newcomer after the latest version of a tower formerly known as the Pinnacle or Helter Skelter received the green light from planners. The revived building, officially known as 22 Bishopsgate – or simply 22 – will be the tallest building in the Square Mile at 278 metres (912ft) [...]. The new design scrapping the expensive curved-glass panels at the top was the work of PLP Architecture.

Previously: Arrested development: London's tallest building-to-be slated for demolition

Related London news on Archinect:

Survey: Why glass?

2015-07-29T13:53:00-04:00

Ever since Mies Van Der Rohe's groundbreaking designs popularized the deceptively simple glass facade, architects have experimented with the incorporation of the material in their designs. Some, such as PLP Architecture, have opted to create commercial buildings that utilize an almost entirely glass facade in order to facilitate new types of professional interaction. Others, such as Kevin O'Sullivan + Associates, have tempered their use of glass with other materials to create a more integrated feel with the surrounding landscape. Archinect decided to survey these two firms about the challenges they faced in their design process. Here, in their own words, the architects speak about how they ultimately arrived on their new final designs.

David Leventhal of PLP Architecture on the Deloitte HQ

As Sylvia Lavin puts it, 'Architecture generally considers environmental design to be repulsive, an odious amalgam of pseudoscience, bad form and moralism.' The challenge for us was to conceive a gr...