Peek inside London’s One Park Drive penthouses by Herzog & de Meuron

With its dramatic cylindrical structure, Herzog & de Meuron’s One Park Drive residential tower in London’s Canary Wharf is a typically monumental landmark from the architecture studio that also designed the jagged upper façade of the AstraZeneca Discovery Centre in Cambridge and the angular form of the Royal College of Art’s Battersea campus. Inside, the new One Park Drive penthouses with interiors by the Swiss architecture firm and furnishings and styling by Tom Dixon’s Design Research Studio sit in calm contrast to the busy, alternating lattices and horizontal platforms of the building’s exterior, while the inner courtyard’s organic tones contribute to a quiet oasis in the bustling hub of London offices.

In curating the homes' furnishings, the team at Design Research Studio ‘decided to imagine the spaces through the persona of an international collector’, remarks Tom Dixon. The rooms have been personalised with bespoke pieces by the brand, which he has formed from scrap metals, wood and ceramics to create sculptural works of art. 

Tranquil textures appear throughout, with a largely concrete and wooden make-up, while timber-framed, floor-to-ceiling windows open up the 56th-floor space. Soft-edged structural pillars and a gracefully curving staircase – a central feature of the residences – are echoed in light fittings by Alvar Aalto and Ingo Maurer, and rounded bathroom and kitchen fittings in white stone.

Design Research Studio has ensured simple forms remain at the fore of the One Park Drive penthouse spaces with the inclusion of Afra and Tobia Scarpa’s ‘Soriana’ armchair and ottoman for Cassina, and chairs by Verner Panton. Bespoke additions continue to punctuate the rooms with a one-of-a-kind desk designed by Belgian architect Frans Vossen and custom-made furniture from Tom Dixon throughout.