A Room for London
- Location
- London
- Size
- Sleeps 2
Please note that A Room for London is now closed
This one-bedroom installation offered guests a place of refuge and reflection above the flow of traffic at an iconic location in the capital: the Southbank. The lower and upper decks gave extraordinary views, by day and night, of a London panorama that stretches from Big Ben to St Paul's Cathedral. Inside, the boat is a beautifully crafted timber object, full of nooks and crannies, along with all the creature comforts one would expect in a good hotel.
What Guests Say
A Room For London is a magical experience. Big Ben out of one window, St. Paulīs out of the other...
There can be few places to stay a night in London quite as unusual, poetic and life-enhancing as A Room for London; perched, as if by retreating floodwaters, on the very edge of the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre.
About The Architecture
At the beginning of 2010, Living Architecture and Artangel collaborated to create A Room for London – a unique architectural and artistic experience overlooking the Thames. With support from Southbank Centre and London Festival 2012, the Room was installed on the rooftop of Queen Elizabeth Hall for the Olympic year of 2012.
The Room was developed through an international architectural competition, with architects and artists asked to create a space which could be part hotel room and part creative space. The brief was to create a room on one of the most visible sites in the British capital, where up to two people at a time could spend a unique night in an exemplary architectural landmark.
The winning design was selected from 500 entries from architects and artists from across the world. A Room for London: Roi des Belges, was submitted by David Kohn Architects in collaboration with artist Fiona Banner.
Their concept for A Room for London was a boat perched on the roof at Southbank Centre, which appears to have come to rest there, grounded, perhaps, from the retreating waters of the Thames below. David and Fiona drew inspiration from the riverboat captained by Joseph Conrad whilst in the Congo in 1890, a journey echoed in his most famous work Heart of Darkness.
Due to the popularity of the project and continued support from Southbank and Lambeth Council the Room remained open until mid 2016, when it was put into hibernation to allow for the redevelopment of this part of the Southbank complex. A Room for London is now closed and no longer installed at the Southbank.