135 Bishopsgate

Skidmore, Owings & Merill (SOM) 1988

Designed by the Chicago-based architect Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 135 Bishopsgate owes more than a little to that city’s feted architecture. While New York might be famous for its gilded skyscrapers, the ideas originated in Chicago where brilliant design minds such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe and Renzo Piano have shaped a new aesthetic of grand beauty that has given the city a reputation as an “architectural mecca”.

135 Broadgate is undergoing a refurbishment that’s due to complete in early 2019. When stripping away its exterior, it soon became apparent that the massive steel tresses revealed the skill and beauty of the building’s original design and will now form the industrial look and feel of 135 Broadgate’s new incarnation. Enhancing its natural beauty, the refurbishment will create welcoming green spaces across its floors while opening up its retail space to include restaurants, food counters and ‘production labs’ where visitors will be able to learn new skills while tasting incredible food and wines.