British architecture studio HTA Design has completed a 163-meter-tall apartment building in Croydon, London, that it claims is “Europe‘s tallest residential tower to be completed using volumetric construction methods”. Named College Road, the building is made up of two adjoining 50 and 35-storey towers wrapped in a pleated ceramic facade. The scheme comprises two interconnected buildings: a 35-storey tower with 120 much-needed affordable homes, and a 50-storey tower with 817 co-living homes and seven dedicated floors of innovative and varied amenity spaces.
College Road is made up of two adjoining 50 and 35-storey towers wrapped in a pleated ceramic facade
HTA explains ”Building on the innovation at 101 George Street as the world’s tallest modular building, the proposed tallest element of the building will set a further record at 150m tall reaching approximately 15m beyond 101 George Street. This height reflects the building’s role at the heart of a cluster of tall buildings that mark East Croydon Station and the regeneration of FairField. This remarkable record of the two tallest modular buildings in the world combined with bringing forward London’s first co-living development through the GLA planning process and will put Croydon at the forefront of 21st-century community creation.”
The building’s geometric facade was informed by developments built across south London in the 1950s and 60s, particularly the faceted exterior of the brutalist NLA Tower by Richard Seifert. “Mid-century modernist-style repetition creates a striking new geometric landmark, with the building’s appearance evolving subtly with height thanks to a varying configuration of ceramic tiles at the base, middle, and top of the tower,” said HTA Design to Dezeen.
163-meter-tall College Road is the tallest modular residential tower in Europe
