Immenient Site Start On Manhattan Loft Gardens

It was promised as a district to rival the best of the City of London or Canary Wharf, but so far redevelopment in Stratford has proven to be underwhelming, if you put it politely. All that could be about to change with the imminent construction of Manhattan Loft Gardens, a luxury residential tower designed by SOM.

Defining the massing of the tower is a series of voids cut into it that create open air spaces for residents to enjoy. Two of these sky gardens are cut through the tower with cantilevers employed to support the structure that juts out above them. The first sky garden cuts through the tower at 29 metres, the second at 85.3 metres, and the third one fills half of the top of the tower at 122 metre above ground.

The exterior is dominated by the use of vertical terracotta fins that form what looks like a serrated facade. From a practical point of view these provide solar shading where its needed, but also work on a decorative level adding texture to the glass skin they sit atop of.

Unlike many residential towers, here residents will be able to open their windows and let in fresh air. The tower also has rainwater collection that will be used to keep its sky gardens lush, and it will be connected into the local district heating network that has already been built for the area with the Cor-Ten clad energy centre and its distinct tower at its heart. This district heating system may eventually supply 200 MW of heating and 64 MW of cooling to its immediate environs.

This is by no means the first such project in London to employ this sort of technology. Churchill Gardens, one of the oldest post-war council estates which was constructed in the late 1940s, was connected to Battersea Power Station in a similar way. That however provided subsidised power for some of the poorest residents in London.

In addition to the residential aspect of the project adding up to 248 apartments, the developer Manhattan Loft Corporation, also plans on opening a hotel in the lower part of the building drawing on the successful formula they have put into place at St Pancras Chambers with a five star hotel and 145 rooms.

The official marketing launch of the project, and its construction have been a longtime coming - it's taken almost three years from the creation of the marketing brochure until present. With it soon to rise and site clearance now underway, the hope is that Manhattan Loft Gardens can finally provide a worthy tall building for Stratford after so many misfires and disappointments.