Risk List

Patera Prototype, Newham, London

Status: At risk

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Michael Hopkins Associates and Anthony Hunt Associates (1982)
Threat: Demolition

Conceived as a prefabricated off-the-peg industrial structure by Potteries-based manufacturers, the Patera was envisaged as a kind of High-Tech Nissen hut. Designed to Nigel Dale’s brief by Michael Hopkins and engineer Tony Hunt, it consisted of a structural frame of lattice trusses in lightweight tubular steel, featuring a unique ‘tension-only’ link at the midspan to prevent any buckling under compression. This supported an envelope of factory pressed steel panels sealed by extruded gaskets, and fully glazed end portals. All the parts could be easily transported and bolted together with standard components.
While visually similar to the Hopkins House (1976) and its antecedent, the Eames House in California (1949), the Patera was in reality a more prosaic and pragmatic structure, marketed commercially as an efficient and affordable workshop or exhibition space.

Only two examples survive; one forming part of the Hopkins practice office in Marylebone (relocated from Barrow-in-Furness) and the second one being the original 1982 prototype. After a stint as a showroom for BT at Canary Wharf, this ended up in a former marina boatyard at the edge of the Royal Docks in Newham. Rediscovered in 2020, C20 submitted a listing application for the structure to Historic England, but this was disappointingly rejected in 2021. The Albert Island site in the Royal Docks is earmarked for a large-scale redevelopment, and ahead of this the Patera was acquired by a developer specialising in short lease ‘meanwhile’ developments on redundant industrial sites. Their intention was to relocate the structure, and reuse it as a performing arts venue at another location in Docklands. For reasons unknown these plans have faltered, with the Patera left standing in a semi-dismantled state since 2022.

Although many High-Tech buildings have belied their original intentions of flexibility and adaptability, remaining resolutely static and unchanging since construction, the Patera has already moved thrice in its 43-year lifespan. Its current sad, skeletal appearance, a ‘noble ruin’, might suggest the structure is a lost cause, but reimagining it anew would be a fitting continuation for this unlikely survivor.

How to help

Write to the Newham Council Conservation and Planning team to urge action: duty.officer@newham.gov.uk

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