The vision is for St John’s to become a best‐in‐class City Centre neighbourhood; a place to live, work and play, a place for enterprise and innovation, for culture, entertainment and leisure; a unique proposition for Manchester that will raise its international profile and set it apart from its peer cities.
St John's Place is a gateway to the St John’s area and new Manchester riverside developments by bringing together multiple pedestrian connections and providing a clear entrance into the wider development. It will provide 387 homes, 327 hotel rooms, commercial spaces and riverside dining and leisure, all designed for simple, timeless and quality city living.
Central to the development of four buildings is a residential tower which terminates the vista along Quay Street. Designed as a simple bold form raised above a podium block, the building responds to the immediate context at street level. The podium is set back from the southern façade of the tower which creates a dramatic space for the proposed residents' garden. This is bounded by a colonnade which supports the upper tower volume and creates a sense of intimacy in the space. A series of upper level duplex apartments with double height fully glazed winter garden spaces on the south east corner provides the building with a slender profile addressing Quay Street.
Alongside the tower is a linear midrise aparthotel which edges New Quay Street and relates to the scale of the buildings opposite. The form is broken into functional components of a highly glazed ground and mezzanine (reception and restaurant) and the hotel room floors above.
Fronting the River Irwell, two loft apartment buildings are positioned either side of a new pedestrian connection to the riverside walkway. The buildings are defined at ground level by a retail podium which addresses the proposed riverside terrace, New Quay Street and Water Street.
The four buildings have a predominantly glazed and reflective appearance which is framed by an expressed grid. This provides a sense of order and hierarchy to the facades which is both rational and functional. The grid acts as a frame to individual apartments or hotel rooms and provides a depth to the façade surface which changes in appearance throughout the day.