Coal Drops Yard Placemaking

Sculptural pavilion to elevate visitor experience by creating an engaging addition to the Yard with its distinctive structure, accessible retail offer and welcoming seating areas.

Client The King's Cross Group
Sector High Streets & Communities
Size 275m²
Location Kings Cross, London

We were commissioned to design a new sculptural pavilion in Coal Drops Yard for The King’s Cross Group.

The client’s brief sought to enhance the unique heritage location by creating a sensitive, contextual response referencing existing forms to establish more human-scale streets to the east and west of the Yard.

Our pavilion is designed to support the experience of visitors by creating a vibrant but sensitive addition to the Yard with its repeating arches, welcoming retail units and attractive seating areas.

Located in the open space at the south of Coal Drops Yard, the pavilion creates a contemporary focal point from ground and upper levels, improving navigation and circulation across the site.

Robert Evans, Partner at Related Argent
‘I really enjoyed working with Fathom on a clever intervention at Coal Drops Yard. The project has not happened, yet, which is a great shame, because the design was inventive, bold and beautiful. And Fathom were a joy to work with. The senior leaders bring big company and project experience and combine it with personal touch and commitment.’

Contextual design approach

Referencing the surrounding brick railway infrastructure, our pavilion is carefully articulated as a series of engineered timber arches which minimise impact on key views through the site.

The pavilion’s triangular footprint forms new streets to the east and west, improving navigability and taking inspiration from the much-loved scale and intimacy of Lower Stable Street.

New dwell space is created with covered seating areas and greenery, with arches to the east side aligning with the rhythm of the existing brick openings of the heritage infrastructure.

Repeating, red-stained columns and soffits add warmth and direct views towards Heatherwick Studio’s kissing roofs.

The pavilion can house single or dual units and its triangular plan avoids the need for complex underground service disruption while creating more animated, retail-focused streets.

The arched roof form establishes a playful pattern of undulating metal shingle tiles, visible from the upper levels of Coal Drops Yard as a sculptural focal point.

Carving out more human-scale streets

Sustainable and demountable

Coal Drops Yard pavilion is conceived with future flexibility, adaptability and deconstruction in mind.

The structure is designed as a free-form roof constructed from a series of LVL ribs spanning from a central spine, supported by glulam arches and columns.

This ‘timber first’ approach minimises the use of steel members and connections and reduces embodied carbon. The design has the added benefit of simplifying offsite fabrication and onsite construction of the frame.

Construction materials will be recycled from demolition sites wherever possible, with passporting for all elements to aid their re-use.