Cubic Tower

Recombinant Landscape

The concept behind this building is the notion of a vertical street, including open public spaces which act like gardens or courtyards along a lateral street. However, the vertical street has one advantage over the ground level street, which is its vantage point. Each terrace overlooks a different part of the city and is programmed for different types of entertainment a restaurant, a bar, a gym, a spa, a pool and a sky park on the roof.

The building is divided into four distinct volumes. By simple shifts of these volumes we open up a certain space on top of each volume creating recreational platforms for the public as if reclaiming the site area. The area of the site is equal to the total gained roof terrace area.

This proposed landmark building is a vertical landscape with emphasis on preserving the horizontal. It interacts with the Leeds skyline as viewed from without or within.

Programme

The density and mixture of programme of the proposed building has emerged based on a number of considerations: Primarily, the desire to bring different aspects of urban life to a residential area. In other words, to provide open elevated platforms for enjoying panoramic views of the city. A focus has been given to introducing mixed programme platforms on different levels of the building. There are no existing viewing platforms for public use in the old city area. The inclusion of elevated platforms in the building will define its uniqueness and importance in Leeds. The programme mixture has been driven by a comprehensive feasibility study and market assessment in which various asset classes were analysed. The relative opportunities for each component of programme resulted in an optimal development mix to meet possible public needs. 21 levels of building programme have been introduced to maximaze the use of land and budget.