One Hyde Park
Few regretted the demolition of the massive and ungainly 1960s Bowater House, widely regarded as one of the worst blots on Knightsbridge, but its replacement by a high-quality residential development was not entirely uncontroversial. The site, overlooking Hyde Park to the north, incorporated a major entrance to the park, which had to be retained. It was within a Conservation Area and the influential Knightsbridge Association had strong views about its future, though not opposed in principle to the change of use from offices to housing.
The aim was to create apartments of outstanding quality targeted at an international market – the 86 units include four penthouses each of around 2,000sq.m. Rogers Stirk Harbour's proposals were developed on the basis of a detailed analysis of the site and urban grain, resulting in a scheme that replaces the monotonous bulk of Bowater House with a series of transparent towers in which extensive glazing is balanced by the use of copper alloy fins. The 63,000sq.m development, construction of which began in 2006, is linked at basement level to the health spa and other leisure facilities of the adjacent Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The existing route from Knightsbridge into the park is repositioned and a new pedestrian route created.
