Alimak Hek Serves Room for London

On the Southbank of the Thames Alimak Hek provide passenger lift access to this unique experience………

A Room for London, designed by David Kohn Architects in collaboration with Fiona Banner, is a one-bedroom installation that sits on the roof of Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and be part of the London 2012 Festival.

The design competition for A Room for London, which attracted entries from around 500 architects and artists from across the world, was set by Living Architecture and Artangel, in association with Southbank Centre. 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, A Room for London: Roi des Belges, is a boat perched on the Queen Elizabeth Hall roof 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.

From the lower and upper ‘decks'' of this beautifully crafted timber structure, there are extraordinary views of a London panorama that stretches from Big Ben to St Paul''s cathedral. With an en-suite double bedroom, kitchenette, library and viewing deck, guests are invited to rest and reflect upon what they see and hear during their one night stay; logging their thoughts, observing cloud patterns, the character of the river and deeper undercurrents.

With the only access to the roof level being internal stairs and ladder the Project Manager, Alex McLenan looked to provide passenger lift access for visitors to this unique experience and found that an Alimak Hek Temporary Lift was the perfect solution.

The Alimak Hek SE630T Temporary Passenger/Goods Lift is similar to a conventional DDA compliant lift being fully automatic for independent use and meeting all the required safety regulations. The range has been developed from experience gained from thousands of permanent lift installations; the lift car runs on a structural mast and is driven up and down by a Rack and Pinion so no shaft or machine room is required.

The structural mast for the lift is tied in to the structure of the building and as the masts are modular the lifts are quick to install and dismantle at the beginning end of the project. When complete the Temporary Lift provides easy, safe and direct access to the roof over 20 metres above the Thames.