bjarke ingels group plans 'no. 1 quayside' office building for newcastle

following structures by foster + partners and wilkinson eyre, a third landmark is set to appear on newcastle’s skyline in the north east of england. designed out of the london office of bjarke ingels group (BIG), ‘no. 1 quayside’ is a curved 12-story office building that includes private gardens on every floor. topped with a green roof, the development will bring 107,346 square feet of prime office space to a site that is currently unused.

image by BIG (main image by EYELEVEL)

‘we opened our BIG london office four years ago and are thrilled to jump into our first foray into the north east,’ says bjarke ingels, founding & creative director, BIG. ‘our proposal is born from the unique conditions of newcastle’s architectural elements, the sloping hills and the curvy frames of the bridges over the tyne. the ascending serpentine silhouette feels like a fresh yet familiar continuation of this unique urban landscape.’

image by BIG

around 12 months ago, the site’s landowner, rob cameron, appointed knight frank to assist in working-up a design for the scheme. knight frank’s newcastle branch has now been instructed to seek a partner to help deliver the project. initial talks with developers and funders are already underway with more details expected to be announced shortly. newcastle-based firm xsite architecture has offered regional support to BIG on the project.

image by BIG

project info:

name: no. 1 quayside
type: commission
client: rob cameron
architect: BIG-bjarke ingels group
collaborators: xsite architecture, knight frank
size: 1,000 sqm / 10,764 sqf
location: newcastle upon tyne, UK
status: in progress

BIG team —
partners in charge: bjarke ingels, andreas klok pedersen
project leaders: andy young, lauren connell
team: shengyha (vic) huang, mike yin