THE PARABOLAModern History

THE PARABOLA Kensington High Street

THE PARABOLA Kensington High Street

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION by Sir Stuart Lipton VISION & PRINCIPLES THE PARABOLA SITE PLAN Project Essays THE SPIRIT OF THE TIME by Lord Cunliffe of Headley A leading member of the original architectural team in 1958 MODERN HISTORY by Reinier de Graaf Partner of the Ofce for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) URBAN SCULPTURE by Paul Finch The Architectural Review DESIGN MUSEUM by Deyan Sudjic Director, The Design Museum CONTACTS & TEAM 16 01

INTRODUCTION Renovating a neglected wonder Sir Stuart Lipton Chelseld Partners 02 14 When we purchased the site of the former Commonwealth Institute we saw the opportunity of bringing back to life the essence of the original concept with the Parabola at its heart. The Parabola, the tent like structure, has been empty for nearly ten years and it deserves a new life. Our vision is to place the Parabola as a cherished piece in the context of new buildings designed in the same spirit of boldness and ingenuity that was the basis of the Parabolas design thesis. The Parabolas initial construction was bold for 1960 with a hyperbolic paraboloid roof. Designs at the time only permitted half of the concrete roof construction to be built with the remaining roof built traditionally. The leanness of the original budget will be in sharp contrast to the quality proposed for the refurbishment of the building. The site is demanding; Kensington High Street is facing competition from a new shopping centre at White City, the historical context and the beauty of Holland Park have to be respected. We commissioned an architectural competition with a number of experts as panel members and chose OMA as architects based on their design skill and commitment to revitalising the Parabola.

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After two years of ownership and a forensic examination of the site we feel ready to make a planning application. The new buildings form and shape respect the Parabola and give it greater impact within its surroundings. They respond to the original design concepts of boldness which the Parabola brought to Kensington. The Design Museum has worked closely with us to enable it to occupy the Parabola with internal changes which allow the external image of the building to remain virtually unchanged with an interior that ts the Museums goals for the future. The landscape is designed by West 8 architects and reects both the spirit of the existing park and a new idiom engulng the three residential buildings. The project will take its place in the revitalisation of Kensington High Street bringing 400,000 people annually to the museum and renovating a neglected wonder to resume its iconic position on the High Street.

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01The Parabola

VISION & PRINCIPLES

THE EXHIBITION BUILDING

The Design Museum will bring 400,000 visitors to the Parabola, giving a neglected London icon new life and purpose.

03The Parabola

THE RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

The new buildings continue the modern spirit of the original, but are deliberately neutral so that the Parabola is dominant.

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KENSINGTON HIGH STREET

The High Street is re-connected to the Parabola. The new buildings and restoration will bring residents, business and new possibilities to the area.

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THE PARK

The tent in the park will be a cultural destination for London and Europe. It will celebrate innovation and design of the highest calibre.

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STONE FACADES

World class architecture will continue the tradition of modernity, respecting the past and creating a sustainable future.

13The Parabola

THE PARABOLA SITE PLAN

THE EXHIBITION BUILDING To be occupied by the Design Museum The building will be refurbished and renovated 100,000 sq ft oorspace Intended uses: exhibition; events; restaurant and caf; auditorium and education; shop; ofces; workshops THE HIGH STREET BUILDING Commercial ground oor + 7 oors of residential units Ground oor uses: facilities associated with the Design Museum including exhibition area, shop and tickets; and a shop or restaurant and caf 23 residential units

THE GARDEN BUILDING 9 oors 38 residential units THE PARK BUILDING 6 oors 11 residential units

PARK

EXHIBITION

HIGH STREET

GARDEN

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THE SPIRIT OF THE TIME Reections on 1958 Roger CunliffeLord Cunliffe of Headley A leading member of the original architectural team We post-war British architects were inspired to build a brave new world: egalitarian, intelligent, refreshing and humane. But right into the late 1950s, when this project began, we were still constrained by having to meet a huge demand, with limited resources. The resulting architecture was strongly focused on the users. It had to be t for the immediate purpose simply that. Future reuse was not our foremost thought. Since then, as an organisation the Commonwealth Institute has adapted to a rapidly changing world, but the building has been unable to keep up. Some years back it was abandoned: no one could nd a conventional way of keeping it viable, even in a period of building boom. Something more radical more innovative was needed. Two years ago the Ilchester Estate and Chelseld acquired the site. There was a market review and thorough research of the complexs history. Chelseld then invited six eminent architectural rms to discuss proposed approaches to the challenge, and selected OMA, an internationally renowned Dutch rm which already had other projects in Britain.

The OMA concept is simple and restrained, but bold where necessary. Constructive discussions with English Heritage, The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and others have advanced the design, but without compromising its integrity. Opportunities not available to us fty years ago have been seized. That is rare and valuable. Even for the time, the project had a niggardly budget. So our priorities had to be rst the exhibition building, then the ancillary wing, and last the landscape. The design had to be pared to the minimum. Standards for access, health and safety and energy conservation were also much lower then. On all counts a major upgrading is now needed. Because of its size we had to place the exhibition building at the back of the site, angled to preserve the ne lime trees along the boundary. With its hypar roof, it became the tent in the park, though the immovable boundary wall blocked a full union. The building was also hard to see from the High Street. Renewal calls for resources. The Chelseld team is of the highest calibre. The authorities and the public have expressed their views; all want to see the complex brought to life again. No one under-rates the task. But it will cost money, and the new development on the site will generate that. This time the budget must not be skimped. The Commonwealth Institute complex embodied the spirit of the time. I feel strongly that this aspect of its cultural heritage adventure, innovation, can-do should be respected by what comes next. OMAs proposals hearten me. Whilst they demonstrate the way cities are evolving in the 21st century, they are also in tune with the spirit of the buildings creation.

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MODERN HISTORY Reinier de GraafOMA Partner of the Ofce for Metropolitan Architecture Building in an urban context means respecting history. But, if the course of history is a sequence of different (often clashing) periods, what does one pay respect to? As architects we have often wondered if rather than preserving buildings or urban environments in their original state, paying respect should actually constitute the continuation of an evolution, which could lead to the improvement (or even correction) of a given context. The Former Commonwealth Institute seems to provide a unique opportunity in that direction. Built in the early 1960s, it represents a still undigested period of our architectural history. The sixties are history without (yet) enjoying the respect normally paid to history. At the same time, experiments like the former Commonwealth Institute continue to inspire the work of many architects today (including our own). About a year ago, as part of a limited competition to choose an architect, we presented our rst proposals for the site. The idea was simple: to retain the main exhibition building, demolish the administration wing, and to ll the remaining spaces with three residential blocks as the new setting for the main building, now re-named as the Parabola.

We decided to orient the new buildings the same way as the Parabola: 45 degrees to the prevailing orientation of the urban fabric around it. From our rst acquaintance with the site there was something intriguing and mystical about the exhibition buildings orientation, deliberately at odds with its surroundings, even partly at odds with itself almost like an Islamic fragment that mysteriously got lost in this part of West London. We were all too aware that paying respect to and even reproducing a feature that at the time of its conception constituted a deliberate break with its surroundings would almost automatically create a risk of also reproducing the buildings perceived contextual indifference. The style and shape of the three new buildings are unequivocally modern: three cubes as a deliberate, neutral background, allowing the Parabola to be the main feature on display. However, whilst the orientation and the square footprint of the new buildings echo the Parabola, they also, through variations in footprint and height like Russian dolls echo the different scales of the surrounding context. In its new conguration the Commonwealth Institute is no longer a singular building, but part of a larger ensemble. As much individual objects as urban fabric, the new buildings tie the Parabola into the city (albeit retroactively). In their new setting the Parabola and its surroundings are no longer opposite ends of the spectrum, but integral parts of a new balance between the recent and older history of this part of London.

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URBAN SCULPTURE Paul Finch The Architectural Review London is, on the whole, an unplanned city. But the British obsession with heritage means that the accidental or the informal can take on the status of the planned, to be respected and acknowledged in spite of (or perhaps even because of) a particular history. Thus it is with the Parabola. The sites main virtue at the time of construction was availability, plus proximity to the old Imperial Institute. The design itself represented a combination of functionalism, lightweight construction and modernity, a contemporary response as different as possible to the heavyweight Imperial Institute it replaced. OMAs proposition makes sense of the site. The composition of the three apartment buildings, and what will become the new home for the Design Museum, produces a piece of urban sculpture, unusual in London and only possible because of the history of this site. It is many years since London saw the planned creation of an arts building along with a residential development. The last occasion, albeit on a much larger scale, was the Barbican in the City of London. Unlike the Barbican, the Kensington High Street site will not be sealed off from the street, but will create an inviting new environment; and unlike the Barbican, it is not reliant on its own landscape (though this will form an important part of the development) but has a major relationship with Holland Park next door.

The architectural approach has to deal with very different conditions in relation to aspect and prospect, differing scales, a break in the conventional street elevation, access to a gem of a park, and of course to the memory of the site and its key building. The design will provoke discussion; do the new blocks genuect too much to that accidental original site planning? How do they relate to adjacent residential mansion blocks? What is the relationship to the park, and so on. These are the commonplaces of architectural debate and discussion, but are no less important for that. In the case of OMA, the generation of the proposal has come from a profound understanding of architectural relationships. They understand very well the importance of focusing on the essential and not becoming overwhelmed by the challenge of combining the contemporary with the historical. What was for two decades an urban problem is at last a focus for new purpose a new architectural lease of life.

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DESIGN MUSEUM Deyan Sudjic Director, The Design Museum After twenty successful years in Southwark the Design Museum is ready to move to the next stage in its development. A bigger, better Design Museum will give London a focus for exploring design and architecture. More than just a tourist attraction, it will be a place that will change the way the world understands design. And if it can do that it will change the way the world sees London. Twenty years ago Sir Terence Conran established the museum as a project within the Victoria and Albert Museum and subsequently gave it a building of its own. He believed it was time to remind Britain that design was more than a matter of aesthetics. Design in the museums view depends on an understanding of the complex process that turns an idea into a manufactured object. Today around 240,000 visitors come to the museum every year. The museum is always brimming with people: children learning how to make a model in the education centre; exhibition visitors getting inside the mind of an architect such as Zaha Hadid, a fashion designer like Hussein Chalayan, or a graphic designer of the calibre of Alan Fletcher. Look behind the scenes and you will nd our collection, a record of the key designs that have made the modern world.

The Parabola will solve the museums most pressing problem: lack of space. With three times as much space, the museum will have more room for exhibitions, to display its permanent collection and to run an exciting programme of public engagement. Our studies suggest we can attract an audience of 400,000 visitors a year. The opportunity is one we cannot miss. What makes the the Parabola so exciting as a new home for the Design Museum is that it will allow us to create a new kind of museum, by giving a new lease of life to a key landmark from the 1960s. It is the chance to bring an important listed building with a troubled past back into use for the long term. In the last decade the concept of transforming a 19th century industrial building into a contemporary cultural space has become a conventional response. The Parabola offers the chance to go much further and seize the opportunity to redene the nature of a cultural space. As Britain comes to understand that its economic future lies in the creative industries, design is more important than ever. An expanded Design Museum is set to play a vital role in making the most of the contribution that design can make to the economy and society at large. The new Design Museum will consolidate Londons claim to be a worldwide hub for design.

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THE PARABOLA Kensington High Street

2009 IIchester Estates & Chelseld Partners

WWW.CHELSFIELD.COM WWW.THEPARABOLA-KENSINGTON.CO.UK

Contact

The project team

CHELSFIELD PARTNERS Telephone +44 (0)20 7290 2388 enquiries@chelseld.com 67 Brook Street London W1K 4NJ

ARCHITECT Ofce for Metropolitan Architecture ARCHITECTURAL CONSULTANT Lord Cunliffe of Headley LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT West 8 STRUCTURAL ENGINEER Arup SERVICES ENGINEER Arup

TRANSPORT CONSULTANT Arup SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT Arup ACCESSIBILITY CONSULTANTS David Bonnet Associates PLANNING CONSULTANT DP9 HERITAGE CONSULTANT Montagu Evans ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANT RPS

DAYLIGHT/SUNLIGHT CONSULTANT GIA CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANTS Mace COMMUNITY RELATIONS Four Communications George Cochrane PUBLIC RELATIONS Bolton & Quinn

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THE PARABOLA Kensington High Street

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