Timber iQ August - September 2019 // Issue:45 | Page 20

PROJECTS
The Vortex is a literal and
metaphorical ‘twist’ on the
classic timber-panelled lobbies
that define many London
buildings.
Huge accolades for Bloomberg's
new European headquarters
Bloomberg’s European headquarters achieved a record BREEAM
(Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment
Method) rating for an office development of 98.5% and was given the
status of the world's most sustainable office building.
By the American Export Hardwood Council | Photos by Nigel Young / Foster + Partners
T
he 1.1 million ft 2  European headquarters of global
financial data, software and media colossus is situated
in London and was designed by the Foster + Partners
team – led by Norman Foster himself.
Making the building more significant for red oak still,
project architect Michael Jones says the timber is not used in
any token, decorative way. It’s core to the interior aesthetics
and to delivering on the designers’ wellbeing and
environmental goals. It’s also used in considerable quantities
- 37,160 m 2 for the floor alone. To answer the question why
wood in the first place, and so much of it, Jones tracks back to
initial conversations with Bloomberg CEO Michael Bloomberg.
“Previously the company has occupied existing
commercial space, but establishing their European
headquarters, they felt, deserved something bespoke and
tailored to the way they operate,” he says. “As well as
expressing this through the architecture itself and while
wanting the building to be very much of its own time, they
also wanted it to be very contextual and historically rooted in
its place through the palette of materials. Hence the
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AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2019 //
extensive use of bronze and Derbyshire stone - 9 000t of it -
but equally timber, all of which you see quite typically
around London. The task was to take these materials and use
them in a fresh, innovative way.”
Sustainability also led Foster to timber. “By this we mean
not only that timber is renewable, energy efficient, carbon
rich and all those other good things, but that it helps
achieve sustainability in the broadest sense,” says Jones.
“The sustainability of a building is also about the well-being
of people – and people feel better in a place featuring
natural materials.”
While some discount red oak because of its pinkish hue it
was this, combined with its technical properties, that actually
helped decide its choice for Bloomberg and Foster. “We
wanted a species with warmth that would mellow and mature
with age,” explains Jones.
The architects and its client did consider other species, but
cherry was discounted due to its tendency, in certain
circumstances, towards significantly darkening on exposure
to light. It was also felt the white oaks of Europe and the US
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