year: 2021
Location: Woods Quay, Embankment, London
Woods Quay is a newly constructed reception and berthing pontoon situated on the Victoria Embankment, nestled between Cleopatra’s Needle and Waterloo Bridge. The clients, Wood’s Silver Fleet, have been Thames’s waterman since 1866, using their experience to offer private charter events with great care for excellently crafted spaces, hospitality and the river.
The Brief was create a unique, riverside dining and entertaining venue for an established, luxury river-cruise company in central London. The family-owned company not only required a reception and holding venue for arriving guests to be welcomed as part of the river cruise experience but also to create new hospitality spaces permanently moored to the Embankment to assist with the expansion of their business.
The brief was to create a single storey venue on the 650m2 pontoon offering three hospitality rooms:
1. East Wing (the Tasting Room): an intimate dining space where clients will enjoy interacting with the chief and see the food preparation and cooking take place in the open kitchen.
2. West Wing (the Bar): a private venue space offering unprecedented views over the Thames, suitable for gatherings/ parties up to 100 people.
3. The Cormorant Deck: the central reception area, where on arrival, guest intended for departure onto the boats can meet and enjoy the open terrace before continuing on their way.
Moored within the historic setting of the Embankment walls, the pontoon sits over the footprint of the original, Victorian leisure pontoon intended for River Cruises. Following the demise of the Victorian leisure industry, the mooring site became vacant and unused for decades, until the introduction of the Reception Pontoon. Existing apertures within the Embankment wall provides the necessary entrance space for the newly formed ramps leading down to the main Reception Pontoon. Once across the Pontoon threshold, views onto the Thames are unprecedented within London. The unique, low-lying perspective onto the water separates pontoon from kerbside, creating a calm, seemingly off-grid volume within central London. Sited to the West flank of Waterloo Bridge, the Reception Pontoon is at the heart of the city - only a few seconds walk from Embankment Tube Station and Savoy Hotel.
The design focuses towards the marine aspect of the location and the reinstatement of the original, Victorian leisure platform. Single storey and low slung in design, the structure concentrates on the spectacular views over the River Thames. Large-format frameless-glazing provides the 180-degree aperture required to fully understand and appreciate the location of the pontoon. To the Embankment side of the pontoon are the service/staff spaces and open kitchen. This intentional separation of function establishes the Served and Servant rational pursued by Louis Kahn. Mapped onto the elevations, habitable (public) spaces comprise the large frameless glazing, interrupted only by oak columns whereas the servant volumes are fully clad with a charred black timber surface.
The South facing terrace spaces and open Cormorant Deck maximise the unencumbered waterside location. The entire reception pontoon has been centred around developing an understated, yet well-crafted, backdrop for clients to relax and enjoy themselves.
Sustainability has been engineered into the heart of the design, utilising the cooler, river breeze across the summer and solar gain throughout the winter months. Air source heat pumps drive the main heating system with solar control glass and large sliding doors controlling the environment through the summer months.
Taking inspiration from the riverbed and the long-standing marine architecture of the Thames, Woods Quay draws upon a mixed palette of luxury and utilitarian materials. Charred timber cladding, oak columns, ‘riverbed’ terrazzo flooring, concrete cladding panels, straw acoustic ceiling, marble, aged-brass handle-ware, aged mirrors all combine to create a well-balanced blend of materials – low key in intention, yet carefully detailed to provide a fully considered and well-crafted space. Slender oak columns and beams make reference to a ship’s hull, drawing further on the marine environment.
The considered material palette and the down-played detailing focuses the pontoon towards a serene space - with no attempt at being in competition with the spectacular city views on offer. Instead, the space is intended to compliment and encourage the users to momentarily pause and soak up the waterside environment.
To the exterior the charred timber elevation facing the Embankment provided a utilitarian and working appearance, appropriate to the waterside setting.