London, 18 July 2018
Description provided by Heatherwick Studio. Designed by Heatherwick Studio, Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross, London is set to open to the public on Friday 26 October 2018.
Long-time residents of King’s Cross, Heatherwick Studio has reinvented two heritage rail buildings from the 1850s as a major new shopping district and public space.
In 2014 the studio was commissioned by King’s Cross Limited Central Partnership to radically rethink the problematic site. The pair of elongated Victorian coal drops was built to receive coal from northern England for distribution around London by barge and cart. But over the years the ornate cast-iron and brick structures had become partially derelict, serving light industry, warehousing, and nightclubs before partial abandonment in the 1990s.
The challenge was to transform the dilapidated buildings and long, angular site into a lively retail precinct where the public could gather and circulate.
The design extends the inner gabled roofs of the warehouses to link the two viaducts and define the yard, as well as creating fluid patterns of circulation. The flowing roofs, supported by an entirely new freestanding structure interlaced within the heritage fabric, rise up and stretch towards each other until they touch. This forms an entirely new floating upper storey, a large covered outdoor space and a central focus for the entire site.
The studio’s design celebrates the specific texture and history of the Victorian industrial buildings while creating 100,000 sqft of new public space, including retail and dining destinations. The 55 units vary in size, accommodating a wide range of established and emerging brands, alongside new restaurants, bars, and cafes.
With entrances at both ends of the site and scattered along Stable Street, the yard will become a new permeable and distinctive public space, contributing to the wider transformation of King’s Cross as a vibrant place to live, work, relax and study.
