The foundations of Broadgate were laid in the mid-1980s by Arup Associates (project manager Peter Foggo): office buildings were located on the northeastern border of the City, around Liverpool Street Station, which was then reconstructed. The main thing in the business complex was the high-quality public space of a human scale created in response to the trends of the times: three squares, which referred to the traditional planning for historic London. The most famous, Broadgate Circle, was an amphitheater with cafes and bars. The colonnade and the material - travertine - reminded of Rome, although postmodernist techniques were still more characteristic not for Foggo buildings, but for the Broadgate buildings at the turn of the 1980s - 1990s, designed by the Americans SOM. As a result, the total office area amounted to more than 300 thousand m2.
In the 21st century, all these buildings, despite the quality of the architecture, no longer corresponded to the ideas of a modern business center, and they were gradually replaced - and continue to be replaced - with heterogeneous new buildings. Only the very first building of Arup Associates, house number 1 on Finsbury Avenue, was registered as an architectural monument, and now it is being renovated. The three original squares were expanded in 2008 by the addition of Broadgate Plaza at the foot of the SOM-designed Broadgate Tower and 201 Bishopsgate, which appeared in the same year. In 2015, Arup Associates remodeled their Broadgate Circle. At the same time, the owner of Broadgate, British Land, following the results of a competition for the landscape design of its public spaces, commissioned DSDHA to develop a plan for their modernization, where human comfort, including psychological, would be at the forefront. It was necessary to take into account the changing patterns of their use, which is typical for London as a whole.
The strategy proposed by DSDHA was formed taking into account the characteristics of each of the areas in the course of a variety of studies (on-site observations, interviews, analysis of pedestrian traffic and visual connections, as well as publications about these spaces and their impressions on social networks). The first goal was to strengthen ties with the city, create a permeable environment, especially since the border position of "Broadgate" unites it not only with the City, but also with the actively developing Shoreditch, Old Street and Spitalfields. It was also important to provide liveliness in the squares in the evenings and on weekends, while slowing down the rate of traffic, which is very saturated here: this business center has 30,000 employees, and due to the proximity of the country's third busiest station, 250,000 people pass through the complex. daily (for comparison, per day pedestrians on Oxford Street - 500 thousand, and visitors to the Tate Modern - 150 thousand). The role of nature and human comfort was also seen as key to the project.
As DSDHA deputy director Tom Greenall explains, Broadgate, the largest pedestrian zone in central London, is an interesting example of a pedestrianized city where you can experiment with alternative uses of space over time as we move away from the idea of “from top to bottom”to a scheme where human comfort comes first … In the first stage of our project,“mysterious”structures are used to test different spatial configurations. With "time-based" urbanism, we can gradually adapt public space to different uses and needs depending on the time of year, while simultaneously planning more permanent changes."
The public areas of Broadgate are sometimes referred to as an early - and successful - example of placemaking. This line was continued by DSDHA, using the tactics of "time-based", the most flexible implementation of the project. Architects have transformed plazas into more informal spaces with landscaping objects - garden furniture and landscaping infrastructure at the same time. Wooden and relatively light, these structures are easy to move, adjusting their location depending on the behavior of the townspeople fixed by the authors of the project. In addition, each next stage of the plan took into account the experience of the previous one. DSDHAs call their approach "reactive" placemaking, as opposed to monosyllabic measures such as temporary installations. With the help of objects in the squares, it was possible to create "niches" for communication, work and recreation, to form a natural route throughout the "Broadgate". It was also important that the objects were not produced in the City, but were delivered to the place ready-made, that is, it was possible to avoid inconveniences for Londoners, which is especially important given the crowded place of this place.
Each of the areas DSDHA has invented its own image of the type of microclimate and biome. Broadgate Circle is a Mediterranean garden: in addition to its original "Roman" appearance, it faces south and is sheltered from the wind. Pines, cork oak, fragrant herbs are planted in the "boulders" that you can even climb. The architects' idea was an attractive grove, but the popular transit routes, as in other squares, have been carefully preserved.
Finsbury Avenue Square is Northern Europe. The existing trees are supplemented with blocks that can be used for both rest and exercise. It is there that the only building of the complex that has the status of a monument is located; it is undergoing renovation, and the architects have added four food stalls to the fence of this construction site. They are a favorite among the townspeople who work and enter Broadgate, who set up “picnics” in the square, anticipating the use of the square when the intended public ground floors are set up there.
Introduced in 2008, Broadgate Plaza is defined by the powerful outer pillars of the Broadgate Tower. In response, the architects proposed an energetic vegetative gesture: tall bamboo was planted in organic "flower beds" - benches, which turned the square into a forest. Here you can lie down and play, but also work, for which there are USB recharging points. The new look has made Broadgate Plaza a popular destination for spontaneous gatherings and yoga and tai chi. Noting the demand for kiosks on Finsbury Avenue Square, the architects are designing a teahouse here.
Fourth square transformation,
Exenge Square is still at the project stage. For her, placed above the railroad tracks, the image of the "winding British landscape" is proposed, where "the passage of time stops."
