Lasdun ‘would be appalled’ by plan for brutalist landmark

A leading British architect of the 20th century would have been appalled by plans to change one of his most important London landmarks, his son claims.

The IBM headquarters on the south bank of the Thames, which was completed in 1983, was Sir Denys Lasdun’s “subservient” companion to his Grade II*-listed National Theatre next door.

Now the Dubai-based owners have applied for permission to remodel the brutalist building, adding two storeys to the roof, replacing the concrete rooftop plant enclosure with a metal mesh, and installing 1,500 sq m of glass-walled retail space at the base.

Designs that a spokesman for the developers said would “revitalise this iconic building”

Internal light wells would also be filled in and a section of the building that projects towards the Thames would be completely demolished. The Easa Saleh al-Gurg Group hopes to increase its capacity from 2,300 to 4,200 workers before renting the space back to the American technology giant.

James Lasdun, an award-winning writer in New York and one of Sir Denys’s three children, said, however, that the planned changes “would mean it’s no longer the IBM building”.

“I definitely think it should be preserved as it is and not disfigured in the way that is being proposed,” Mr Lasdun, 62, said. “I know my father would have been very upset because he was very attached to it. He saw it as the completion of his plans for the National Theatre, from which it was inseparable in his mind, and it most expressed what he wanted to do in architecture. So he would be appalled by this idea.

“It’s unimaginable they would do that to the IBM building when the National Theatre is now so popular and you can see the joy people get from using it. The IBM building belongs to everyone and has also been embraced over time. You would hope it was in the custody of people who would understand its importance.”

The National Theatre has also objected, saying that the plans, overseen by the architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, would “unbalance that carefully composed architectural and visual relationship between the IBM building and the National Theatre, in particular its important familial and subservient relationship to the NT that was part of the original concept. They share a particular historical, architectural and visual relationship that is vulnerable to change.”

The 20th Century Society has called on the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to protect the IBM Building from a “heavy-handed” redevelopment by including it on the national heritage list. The campaign group insisted a “heavy-handed” redevelopment would “cause serious harm” to Lambeth’s South Bank Conservation Area.

“It’s possible to give the building a new lease of life without doing anything so drastic,” Catherine Croft, director of the 20th Century Society, said. “It’s incredibly bold sculpturally yet somehow nestles into a small site. It’s very finely crafted and we think it should be listed.”

An arch-modernist, Sir Denys’s designs have come back into fashion in recent years, but they often split opinion at the time. The former poet laureate Sir John Betjeman was generous in his praise for the National Theatre and wrote to Sir Denys, who died in 2001 at the age of 86, to say that he had “gasped with delight at the cube of your theatre in the pale blue sky”. Prince Charles, meanwhile, compared it to a nuclear power station.

A spokesman for the developers said: “The proposals will revitalise this iconic building and help maintain the South Bank as one of London’s most vibrant places.”

The planning application will be assessed by Lambeth council later this year and work could begin in 2021 if approved.