For a little over ten years, the two 19th-century buildings were London's most important coal transfer hub. After this time, the coal warehouses and production facilities gradually fell into decay. They were rediscovered in the 1980s and served as a club scene hot spot for another two decades.
Now, after being converted and extended by Heatherwick Studio, the Coal Drops Yard near King's Cross Station finally has a longer-term future. This has to do with the fact that its surroundings have gone from being an industrial wasteland to a prosperous creative and business district, to which the project will add 50 shops, restaurants and cafés. But it is also due to its symbolic and sensual architecture, which blends old and new into a timeless whole.
At the heart of the design are the roofs above the original Victorian-era buildings, which sweep up from the brickwork to meet in the middle. As simple as this gesture may seem at first glance, the implications are far-reaching in terms of urban development, space and construction. First of all, the roofs redefine the void between the existing linear sheds. Already at an early stage, the space between the two buildings was to be connected at different levels. The design team, however, came up with a novel idea that sets it in the foreground. The "kissing roofs" make Coal Drops Yard an urban landmark, provide attractive retail spaces and serve as a lookout and orientation point. They have also resulted in a weather-protected public space for people to gather and events to take place.
Far less obvious, but highly complex, is the design of the roof extension, which almost seems to float above the old coal stores. Since the historic buildings were not suited to bear the new roof loads, an independent construction was needed. This consists of new concrete walls and cores as well as 52 steel columns, which were integrated into the existing structures and mostly hidden behind their old brick walls. A prefabricated steel roof structure was also assembled on site. Suspended from this between the existing buildings is the floor of the iconic roof, with the tension rods so well integrated into the sawtooth glass facade that they can easily be overlooked, even on closer inspection. This creates the impression of graceful lightness from the interior as well.
Old materials in the existing buildings were mostly reconditioned, and thoughtfully replaced only when absolutely necessary. The slate slabs used to clad the roof, for example, were sourced from the same quarry as those used on the original structures.
The main entrances from Regent's Canal and opposite Lewis Cubitt Square, along with the several connecting bridges and stairways, make the Coal Drops Yard an open and permeable space that people can walk through and experience in many ways. This and the interplay with the unique, atmospheric architecture provide the best conditions for the bustling activity here to continue for a long time to come.
