UPPER RIVERSIDE BUILDING 4 AMENITIES, GREENWICH PENINSULA, LONDON

Following on from our exhibition designs for the developer Knight Dragon at their marketing building The Hub, Emulsion were subsequently commissioned to design the amenity spaces for Building 4 at Upper Riverside which is a series of residential towers along the north-eastern edge of the Greenwich Peninsula.

Stylistically deliberately different high-profile designers were appointed for the interior design of each of the five Upper Riverside towers, and for Building 4, our amenities design complements the interiors of the 191 apartments designed by Knight Dragon’s in-house interiors team. The concept responds to the angular architecture, and takes an informal and relatable approach to design to reflect the profile of typical PRS residents, creating a friendly, unintimidating yet clearly design-led environment for people to enjoy living in.

The Building 4 amenities occupy 620sqm, spread across the building, comprising: entrance lobby, gym, cinema, barbeque terrace, sun deck, communal circulation areas and wayfinding. Building 4 has slightly different focus to the rest of Upper Riverside in being PRS, whilst the apartments in the other buildings are for sale, however all residents have access to the communal amenities across all the Upper Riverside buildings, collectively known as “The Club”, so all the different sets of interiors needed to read coherently together in terms of their quality of design and execution.

Our Lobby features a playful palette of high-quality low maintenance materials including terrazzo finishes in a pattern derived from the building’s geometry. The space contains iconic loose furniture (including designs by Lina Bo Bardi, Charlotte Perriand, Verner Panton, Eileen Gray) in different black upholstery, becoming tactile silhouettes.

The Cinema features a light-up dancefloor and karaoke, with Togo and Brioni sofas instead of conventional cinema seating, so it can be a flexible party space.

Linear planters and seating on the Sun Deck terrace create a sensory garden with scented planting that moves with the wind, and all the planting on the Barbeque Terrace is edible. Exposed services, mild steel and brass metalwork in the Gym are contrasted with cork-rubber flooring and textured walls.

Other custom items in the project include a Japanese tile-clad barbeque station and Durat-topped outdoor tables for the larger terrace, and in the lobby a reception desk cast from Jesmonite with painterly metallic accents, a bar table made from London Plane and brass, and a curved structure for mailboxes clad in passivated zinc.

Our design role included directing planting and greenery across the amenities provided by Urban Growth, and curating & styling the accessories and books for the Lobby.