IBM Building, Southbank,  London

Architect	Denys Lasdun, Redhouse & Softley
Date Built	1979 - 1984
Location	76 Southbank
Description
This building on London’s Southbank is the last large project of Sir Denys Lasdun.  Its Grade II listed status is in part due to that fact.  English Heritage add that the listing reflects the building’s distinctive exterior character and subtle detailing.  They also note its architectural concordance with its neighbour,  Lasdun, Redhouse & Softlley’s National Theatre.  Prior to WWII the Southbank was a heavily industrialised area and as such revived heavy and sustained bombing.  In the years after the war the area was cleared and redeveloped.  In 1977 IBM approached Lasdun, Redhouse & Softly to produce a feasibility study for a corporate HQ on the site of what had been a print works.  The practice was chosen on the back of their work next door at the National Theatre. The listing information on the English Heritage site says, “The building for IBM was required to provide 300,000 square foot of space for 1000 staff, including demonstration and conference suites, data processing libraries, catering facilities for staff and 25 car-parking spaces. Its location next to the NT provided the opportunity for Lasdun to explore further the architecture of a culture and media-focussed urban townscape. The internal layout of office spaces was designed to meet IBM requirements for a flexible ratio between open offices and cellular spaces for executives, with the addition of internal courtyards intended to meet the desire for all desks to be within 10m of a daylight source; outside awareness was considered to be the best situation, and all occupied rooms were required to have a window of some kind.” They go on to describe the building as follows, “a reinforced concrete structure, arranged on a 7.2m grid with a 1.8m module, including columns, flat slabs and beams, with pre-cast concrete external components and non-structural internal walls of Celcon blockwork. The external facades clad with pre-cast panels are finished with aggregates of varying materials and treatments. The soffits are white Polyester Powder Coated (PPC) panels, installed in the 1990s as replacements for the originals. Brown brick finishes are applied beneath podium level and to the pedestrian areas including paved approaches to the main west entrance, which extends up to form a podium wrapping around the north-west corner. The windows and window walls are framed in anodised aluminium. Spandrel panels are formed of insulation, sandwiched between two sheets of anodised aluminium.” ********************************************* The images below were taken in 2023 when the building was undergoing significant redevelopment described on the stanhopepic.com website as being  “respectfully refurbished and extended by Stirling Prize winning architects Alford Hall Monaghan Morris. The proposals have been based upon significant research into the history and architectural intent of the existing building, including the extension elements themselves which were considered by Lasdun during the initial concept design stage. The design, whilst respecting the buildings heritage and historic fabric, will deliver highly efficient and flexible modern day commercial office space of the highest sustainable standards and provide a long term future for the listed building, significantly improving its setting within the local conservation area and river frontage.”

Close Window