Wood Wharf C2

Pilbrow & Partners were selected by Canary Wharf Contractors Limited to design the Market Building at Wood Wharf following an invited competition. The building forms the centre piece of Canary Wharf’s new mixed use urban quarter. Across its fourteen floors, a rooftop restaurant, office and major new food market are planed. The building activates the central square at the heart of Wood Wharf. A side core steel-framed superstructure provides an adaptable framework within which each of the programme elements can be accommodated. A filigree diagrid provides the lateral stability for the building’s superstructure allowing the core to be a lightweight glazed element with daylit circulation spaces. Moving the core to the north allows for a simple, generous and open ground floor space that functions as an extension to the public realm. It has the potential to offer a wide range of commercial activities with cafés and restaurants that spill out into the new square planned to its south. The design accommodates a potential specialist market which brings together food retailing with restaurants and cafés planned across two storeys. A double height east-west galleria connects to the two levels and serves to link the approach from the first phase of Canary Wharf’s development with routes to the proposed public park. The office entrance is planned to the north west of the building with direct connections to the side core. A step in the adjacent building line opens long views from the office back towards One Canada Square at the heart of the Canary Wharf earlier building phase. Scenic lifts and glazed stairs draw visitors towards the core. The office accommodation is efficiently planned to provide flexible, well-lit floor plates that accommodate multiple sub- tenancies. The building structure and services are expressed creating a robust backdrop to a variety of potential fitout approaches.