London Trip - More London

More London is part of an area known as London Bridge City, a space development between 2000 and 2010 on the south bank of the River Thames. With fantastic views of Tower Bridge and the financial district, More London is a multi-use space, surrounded by enclaves of food, culture and programmed events, enlivening and enriching its community. 

The More London development itself, including the buildings was designed by Foster + Partners, occupying a strategic position on the cultural route from Tate Modern, the Globe Theatre and Southwark Cathedral to HMS Belfast and the Design Museum, the design of More London had to be well-executed, playing a key role in the social and economic regeneration of the borough of Southwark. 

Some of the key elements of landscape architecture within the More London development are discovered below. 

London's former City Hall (2002)

Designed using advanced computer-modelling techniques, the City Hall building is characterised by its shape which has been carefully designed to achieve optimum energy performance by maximising shading and minimising the surface area exposed to direct sunlight. Natural ventilation technologies including photovoltaics provide power and the building's cooling system utilises ground water pumped up via boreholes, ultimately using a quarter of the energy consumed by a typical air-conditioned London office building. 

Though this was the original aim for the City Hall building, there has been issues faced due to its unique design. The building has in fact stood empty since 2021 due to Mayor of London relocating headquarters elsewhere. The design of the building has been criticised for its unique spiral design were envisioned specifically for its original use housing the Mayor of London and Greater London Authority (GLA), making it difficult to adapt for general office space or commercial purposes, meanwhile the building floorplates require significant modifications to meet modern office standards, the building's facade faces similar issues. The building has also faced leaks and defects making it difficult to re-lease, said to be predominantly down to its 'over complicated' design. Future alteration plans for the building are said to be in place. The following figure shows the former City Hall building as it stands today. 

The Scoop (completion 2010)

Designed by Townshend Landscape Architects, the Scoop at More London is an outdoor sunken auditorium to accommodate 800 people. Originally designed as a light well for basement offices, The Scoop is primarily constructed of Irish Blue Limestone using a combination of semi-flexible construction and carefully selected paving sizes to minimise he appearance of movement joints, creating a clean, seamless feel. The programme for The Scoop includes a wide range of activities and events. The following figures show The Scoop in greater detail.

Townshend Landscape Architects also design the riverside walk and two principal areas of public space. The linear planting blocks contain a mixture of trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials. Trees including birch, relate to a previous climax community on the site, thinning and breaking down to intermediate stages along the edges. The following figure explore the planting elements in more detail.

Several water features have been designed around the concept of the historic tributary network which used to flow into the river. The water is concentrated at the key visual points in the form of fountain jets on the north side of the buildings and calm water tables to the south west. The two are linked by a rill to channel the eye, reflect light and provide interest through the development. The following figures show some of these water features. 

The Rill

The rill, photographed on the left, has recently been filled in and bricked up due to health and safety concerns after nearly 15 years being part of the development.

After exploring and reviewing some of the key built forms and soft landscaping in More London, the space is one which promotes both movement and being still, serving as a well-designed transitional space between the fast-pace commercial offices and the nearby Tower Bridge station which contrasts the slower-pace, predominantly leisure, retail and hospitality spaces. The balance of the two creates an gradual shift in pace and perspective, slow-paced elements like the amphitheatre/auditorium are an opportunity to be still, and enjoy free entertainment and music, surrounded by the contrasting fast-pace environment. 

These elements of the landscape are interesting, I do however feel the space is grey, hence, feels dreary, offering a chiefly boring user experience. The space blends into most of the public use spaces within London, all of which come across as corporate, thus amalgamate with one another. It's understandable that it has been designed to be a flexible space, able to adapt to cope with future possible uses of the site and surrounding landscape, yet this does not mean fundamental principles of design including colour, shape and form must be forgotten.