Just a short walk from the famous Battersea Power Station is London's Embassy Gardens residential and commercial district. Designed under the name The Modern by HAL Architects, the apartments offer magnificent views of the surrounding area. The apartments are also attractive thanks to the carefully planned interiors by Benningen Lloyd. In the bathrooms, bathtubs by Bette ensure the best comfort. Further bathing fun is offered by a transparent pool at a height of 35 meters, which connects two apartment complexes.
by Norman Kietzmann, 23.11.2021
In the real estate world, a simple rule applies: location, location, location. If you are positioned out of the way, you have to come up with something. This is exactly what has now happened in London's Embassy Gardens development area. The newly developed neighborhood in the Nine Elms district measures 15 hectares and is located directly on the southern bank of the Thames. The centerpiece and namesake is the U.S. Embassy, which opened in 2018. For security reasons, the embassy had to leave its longstanding address in the more central Grosvenor Square in Mayfair and now resides in a glass cube in the middle of an artificial lake.
160 apartments are distributed over two ten-story buildings. Because their roof areas are too short for a 25-meter pool, it was stretched between the two buildings. Photo: Jason Hawkes Photography
New neighborhood on the outskirts of London
In its surroundings, 1,500 apartments, restaurants, cafés, green spaces and a 130,000-square-meter shopping center are currently growing upwards. The master plan was designed by London architect Terry Farrell. Among the completed buildings is the apartment complex The Modern, designed by HAL Architects of London. 160 apartments are distributed over two ten-story structures. Because their roofs are too short for a 25-meter pool, it was stretched between the two buildings. At a height of 35 meters, the pool made of acrylic glass floats freely above the ground over a length of 14 meters.
Interior designers Annick Benningen and Katie Lloyd have designed two model apartments for The Modern. Photo: The Modern / Philip Durrant
Free-floating outdoor pool
The highlight here is not just the unobstructed view of the Thames, Big Ben and the London Eye Ferris wheel. The 400,0000-liter pool is transparent all around, so that when you swim you actually get the impression of flying freely in the air. Originally, the architects had an aqueduct in mind. But in four years of development work, the engineers from Eckersley O'Callaghan found a way to realize the pool without a supporting substructure.
The 50-ton pool has 20-centimeter-thick sides and a 30-centimeter-thick base. It was manufactured in the USA by the Colorado-based company Reynolds Polymer, which has also implemented the 16-meter-high Aquarium in Berlin's DomAquarée, among other projects. Access to the London Sky Pool is only available to members of the Eg:le Club, which is reserved for residents of the duplex and features a spa, gym and its own Sky Deck Bar.
The color palette of Benningen Lloyd alternates from delicate pastel shades to stronger nuances that correspond not only with the numerous indoor and balcony plants. Photo: The Modern / Philip Durrant
Marble meets velvet
Interior designers Annick Benningen and Katie Lloyd founded their joint practice Benningen Lloyd in London in 2016. For The Modern they designed two sample apartments to show future residents possible directions in interior design. Nature is cited several times here. The material hardness of marble side tables provides a counterpoint to sofas and armchairs with soft bouclé or velvet upholstery. The color palette varies from delicate pastel shades to stronger nuances, which correspond not only with the numerous indoor and balcony plants. Benningen Lloyd see the bolder color points as a reference to the nearby New Covent Garden Flower Market.
The bathrooms feature marble and handmade tiles in pale terracotta and white. The combination bathtubs from the BetteOcean series by East Westphalia-based Bette can be used for both bathing and showering. Photo: The Modern / Philip Durrant
Luxury in the bathroom
Water plays a crucial role not only in the Sky Pool, but also in the 160 apartments. Special attention was paid to the bathrooms, which feature marble and handmade tiles in pale terracotta and white. The combination bathtubs from Bette's BetteOcean series can be used for both bathing and showering, which is reflected in a complementary geometry. The head end of the tub is sweepingly rounded to provide comfortable support for the back. At the foot end, the inside of the tub projects vertically upward to provide additional space when showering and to ensure a secure footing. With its materiality of glazed titanium steel, the bathtub BetteOcean is easy to clean. It is available in numerous colors and in glossy and matte surfaces. So the occupants of the house have to decide: Either relaxed immersion within their own four walls or up to the roof for weightless swimming?
BETTE
Bette is a German family-owned company. Since 1952, we have been producing high-quality architectural bath elements made of pure natural glazed titanium steel in Delbrück, Germany. Bette products give the greatest possible design freedom in the bathroom. Excellent design, unique material quality and extremely high dimensional variability characterize our range. Each Bette bath element can be individually configured with additional equipment or dimensional adjustments using installation accessories.
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