Heatherwick Studio's much anticipated Coal Drops Yard project opened its doors on Friday, October 26th. The London based studio transformed two heritage rail buildings from the 1850s into a lively retail district. The goal for Thomas Heatherwick, founder of Heatherwick Studio, was to highlight the existing architectural elements while satisfying the new needs of a new urban development. 

Developing into London's new creative sector, King's Cross is already home to 67 acres of businesses, restaurants, and amazing architecture. The completion of Coal Drops Yard only adds to King's Cross' cultural presence within the city. 

The studio artfully highlights the historical and textural details of the industrial Victorian style buildings while creating a functional retail and public space. The project's main design feature are the defining gabled roofs that link two viaducts. The flowing roofs create a focal point for the space that transforms the gambled roofs into a fluid structural attraction. 

“It has been a huge privilege working on Coal Drops Yard, not only because it’s the studio’s first major building completed in London, but also because it is in King’s Cross, where my studio and I have been based for the last seventeen years." Since 2014, when the project was commissioned, Thomas Heatherwick and his team have turned an old coal yard into a site that the public can work, shop, relax, and dine in.