THE PRINCE

The project is an allegorical commentary on post-2008 capitalist culture and space. Pre-2008, regulations allowed lenders the opportunity to be greedy by giving out more loans to unqualified individuals. Many financial workers in Canary Wharf today, describe the 2008 crash to have completely changed the work culture within financial companies - now emphasising a healthy body, healthy mind ethos, offering extortionate gym memberships and work from home facilities. This means less fraud, less narcotics and less debauchery… but behind closed doors, has the financial culture changed meaningfully? or are vices simply better hidden? This project is based on a narrative where Niccolo Machiavelli’s Prince is a protagonist placed into present-day Canary Wharf, naturally yearning to be the most powerful. In a system of like-minded individuals the Prince aims tirelessly to showcase the most testosterone and compete. Using prestidigitation, he steals people’s objects – not only an act of power and one-upmanship but an intrinsic obsession of gold, silver and bronze. In order to mask his daylight robbery, he uses the latest most talked about currency today: cryptocurrencies, becoming a public advocate promising to give power back to the people through its decentralised state. All with the help of various tools he finds on the way. The building itself takes the form of a torus - aligning all the tools the Prince uses to gain control over Canary Wharf within the centre whiles the rest of the building flows outwards. By integrating secret walkways and hidden galleries within the building’s stone materiality, the building enables the Prince to maintain ultimate control.