The London Ark in Hammersmith is an important building on a prominent
site, made striking by the unique talents of a notable international a
rchitect. Its fresh and exciting concept has created a landmark in the
field of office design, and the ground-breaking approach to many of t
he technical problems involved makes it of even greater interest. This
Paper describes the background to the project and the processes by wh
ich decisions were made by the joint British and Swedish team of archi
tect, developer, project managers and consultants. It describes the bu
ilding and the innovative architectural and engineering concepts invol
ved. The project demonstrates the kind of cooperation between organiza
tions of different nationalities which is likely to become more and mo
re the norm in the context of the new Europe.