The Landseer was conceived as a luxury apartment complex overlooking Lord’s Cricket Ground in St. John’s Wood.
Project Name: The Landseer
Studio Name: KSR Architects & Interior Designers
Location: London, United Kingdom
Photography: KSR Architects & Interior Designers
Completion date: 2013
The development of 131 mixed-tenure homes are housed in three distinctive glass-and-steel buildings, each oriented in response to its context. Central to the development is a 10-storey tower containing 16 opulent and generously proportioned apartments on St. John’s Wood Road. Two lower rise blocks to its rear step to the scale of existing buildings on Lodge Road and host a combination of high-level pri-vate and affordable apartments.
Here the elegant and contemporary detailing of the façades is com-plemented by slatted timber screens that bring warmth and dynamism to the individual terraces. KSR’s all-encompassing concept for The Landseer extended to include the bespoke design of the de-velopment’s interiors, as well as the sales and marketing suite. A palette of natural stone, rich wood and autumnal tones are paired with the crisp lines of the architecture throughout the residents’ areas and apartments.
A residents’ lounge and access point for the 5-star concierge service set in the base of the tower frames views of the stadium’s arched colonnade across St. John’s Wood Road, while a club room is sequestered to the rear. Above, apartments with floor-to-ceiling windows offer progressively better views of the grounds as they ascend.
Two duplex penthouses crowning the tower are designed with match day in mind. Each features its own generous terrace, dining room and master bedroom that look directly over the pitch. A further penthouse topping the south-facing building on Lodge Road boasts its own terrace and hot tub taking in expansive views of the city. Further shared roof gardens offer a secluded addition to the idyllic tree-lined avenues of nearby Regent’s Park.
“The tower faces onto Lords Cricket Ground and that embraced the tall buildings that exist already along St. John’s Wood Road,” says partner Daniel Curtin. “The two penthouses that have views over Lord’s were designed with avid cricket fans in mind – offering them a guaranteed seat.”
Once the cricket season is over, residents can take advantage of a private subterranean entertainment suite featuring a serene spa and gym, a bar and games rooms finished in dark wood and stone, and an opulent cinema furnished with plush upholstery. A further lounge is set alongside a 103-capcity park-ing garage with an automated car stacker that maximises space.
Arterial power cables feed through tunnels beneath the site to supply the mains electricity to north-west London. The need to protect this power system, and position facilities alongside it, represented a complex technical challenge for the team. We worked with Arup and Revit modelling software to skillfully negotiate this vital infrastructure, fitting a double basement to house both leisure facilities and carparking alongside it, and achieve planning permission.
“We had to design our basement to circumnavigate these very important power cables,” says Curtin. “It was hugely complicated putting in a double basement in amongst the essential power kit that feeds west London.”
The Landseer was designed to occupy a rare undeveloped plot between our award-winning Pavilion Apartments and a 1960s housing scheme, and received planning permission in 2013 in a landmark moment for the site in its conversion from semi-industrial to residential use. The Pavilion Apartments set a new benchmark for sales in the area on completion, and our concept for the The Landseer in-tended to match these highest expectations of luxury housing.
