World Architecture Images- Offices, Finsbury Avenue

	Essential Architecture- London Offices, Finsbury Avenue
architect	Arup Associates
location	1 Finsbury Avenue
date	1982 to 1984
style	High-Tech Modern
construction	exterior metal framework
type	Office Building



"At Broadgate, No 1 Finsbury Avenue set the aesthetic standard, almost single-handedly, for a new breed of speculative office buildings. Its elegant, open, well-lit atrium brought an unusual element in speculative offices but provided the building with, as it were, an internal series of façades. Offices were grouped around the internal glazed courtyard, the steel and glass roof over which brought daylight to all these users. High ceilings in these offices were also an unusual and welcome feature and were a direct response to the new requirements of raised floors for the highly sophisticated and complicated services required by the new technology. Suspended ceilings contain the ductwork for the lighting and air conditioning. The dark metallic appearance of the exterior of the building with its sunbreakers and diagonal rods provides a telling contrast to the well-lit and light appearance of the interior. The façades have been landscaped with trees and shrubs in a careful and well thought out manner." — Dennis Sharp. Twentieth Century Architecture: a Visual History. p381.
links
www.essential-architecture.com