Canaletto by UNStudio / May 27, 2016 by Alex Upton

Development: Canaletto 259 City Road
Architects: UNStudio
Location: City Road, Islington, London
Height: 90m (31fl)

Canaletto 259 City Road - Photography: Copyright © Alex Upton

Canaletto is a residential tower designed by Dutch architect Ben van Berkel of UNStudio. The building is located at 259 City Road which borders on Islington, The City, Shoreditch and Clerkenwell. Construction is still on going with most of the work now taking place at the base of the tower where the concierge area is being fitted out, these architectural photographs capture Canaletto's current progress.

Returning from a trip to the recently opened Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the Victoria Miro Gallery - which for prospective residents is conveniently located a minuets walk from the Canaletto building along with a McDonald's Drive Thru, a real melting pot of high and low brow culture - i happened to chance upon these beautiful cloud formations passing over the tower. These photographs of Canaletto are the result of me trying to recalibrate my senses after being dazzled by Kusama's infinity mirror installations, which by the way are well worth a visit.

The lucky residents of this tower will have access to a wide range of facilities including what will be a stylish restaurant, private screening room, swimming pool and gymnasium and a 24th floor private club and sky terrace. The innovative design by UNStudio incorporates balconies into the linear and somewhat bulbous chrome clad panels that wrap around the buildings façade, which according to the architects create 'sustainability benefits achieved through surface modelling, with opportunities for shading, balancing good internal daylight and views with reduced heat gains'. Along with their sustainable credentials these panels produce some beautiful forms which for and architectural photographer offer endless opportunities for new and exciting compositions.

Canaletto is located in an area which is currently seeing a lot of developments start to rise, with Foster and Partners 250 City Road residential apartments just beginning to break ground over the road and the adjacent Lexicon building also nearing completion - for which a photograph update will follow shortly.

Construction Update: Riverwalk / May 20, 2016 by Alex Upton

Development: Riverwalk Residencies
Architect: Stanton Williams
Location: Pimlico, Westminster, London
Height: (17fl)

These architectural photographs show the current progress at the Riverwalk development situated on the Thames River Bank near Vauxhall Bridge. The exterior is almost complete with the stone cladding looking to be of a very high quality. There is still ongoing landscaping at the base of the tower with the extension of the river walk way being continued up to the bridge. A sculpture - obligatory to all new luxury developments - by Peter Randall-Page is still concealed in protective wrapping somewhere near the base of the building which will join Henry Moore's sculpture 'Locking Piece' later this year. Here is a description of the artwork curtsy of the developers website.

'Peter Randall-Page’s ‘Shapes in the Clouds’ will be installed in the landscaped area around Riverwalk and explores how the sensual and organic can emerge from the formal and geometric. In this version of a dodecahedron carved out of Rosso Luana marble, in which the heavy figuring is reminiscent of solidifying cloud, the Dartmoor-based artist has combined geometric order with geological chaos to produce something both visceral and sensual. Peter often describes it as breathing life into dumb matter.'