Structure studio Squire and Companions has added a co-working facility to its personal London workplace, in a brand new constructing framed by cross-laminated timber.
The Division Retailer Studios is a five-storey constructing providing versatile workspace together with services that embrace a film screening room, a bar and a restaurant.
It adjoins the former Bon Marche division retailer in Brixton, a beforehand deserted constructing that Squire and Companions transformed into its personal workspace again in 2017.
With this new addition, the structure agency hopes to assist the burgeoning native inventive scene. Co-working residents can doubtlessly make use of services in each this new constructing and the transformed division retailer.
Based on Tim Gledstone, associate at Squire and Companions, the intention from the outset was to create a tradition of cross-collaboration between the agency’s staff and different artists and designers primarily based within the space. The corporate will function your entire facility itself.
“We have created a complete enterprise right here,” he advised Dezeen throughout a tour of the constructing. “In some ways, it was simply constructing on what we already had with The Division Retailer.”
“As quickly as we opened The Division Retailer, folks began asking if they may have some desk area,” added Maria Cheung, the studio’s head of inside design. “So we knew the demand was there”.
Acutely aware of the environmental affect of a new-build construction, the architects selected to make use of mass timber for the constructing’s major construction. The constructing boasts a cross-laminated timber (CLT) body that provides pure soundproofing and airtightness.
The design problem was discovering a manner for this materials to really feel at residence alongside the uncooked and characterful aesthetic of the previous Bon Marche constructing.
“Our purchasers who would come to The Division Retailer would virtually invariably say, it is a fairly fabulous place, however you may by no means do that with a brand new constructing,” mentioned senior associate Michael Squire. “As a result of actually, the magic you have bought is what you have revealed.”
One tactic that the designers employed was utilizing textured brickwork for the constructing’s facade. Among the bricks had been snapped by hand and laid to face outwards, giving an uneven high quality to the constructing’s exterior.
Inside, the CLT construction was left uncovered wherever doable and pared with industrial finishes like screed flooring. Faceted bay home windows with darkish frames echo the fashion of the Crittall home windows in The Division Retailer, whereas lighting and electrical fixtures are left on present.
“CLT was one of the best technical alternative, and with that got here fast soul, heat and nature,” mentioned Gledstone. “We’re celebrating this construction contained in the constructing.”
The Division Retailer Studios is positioned on the north aspect of the unique constructing, with entry through Bellefields Street. The 2 buildings do not be a part of, though they share a courtyard the place a longtime oak tree was not too long ago planted.
The bottom ground of the constructing accommodates a members’ lounge and the Bellefields bar and restaurant, the place terracotta pendant lights, marble-topped tables and wood eating chairs assist to create a Mediterranean-inspired really feel.
The 4 flooring above include a mixture of totally different workspaces, together with open-plan co-working for people and personal studios for between six and 72 folks.
Cellphone cubicles and bookable assembly rooms are dotted all through, together with kitchen areas and lounge areas. The goal was to create areas that facilitate several types of working, impressed by the way in which that areas are utilized in The Division Retailer and different Squire & Companions initiatives just like the Ministry of Sound co-working.
This pondering extends to the inside design, the place the color palette and furnishings selections replicate totally different occasions of day and totally different moods.
“One factor we have discovered from our workspace expertise is to design for moments in time and states of thoughts,” mentioned Gledstone.
“We’re utilizing color for its psychosomatic power, both to calm or excite, and we’re linking it to seasons or moments within the days in several rooms,” he continued.
“So regardless that some assembly rooms sit in the identical place above one another, some are muted with calm night tones and relaxed furnishings, others are designed for breakfast.”
A communal terrace may be discovered on the third ground, whereas the fourth ground – anticipated to be let to a single tenant – has its personal roof terrace.
The screening room may be discovered within the basement, permitting the area for use as a mini cinema. This ground additionally contains bike storage, lockers, showers and altering areas.
In addition to the paying members, Squire and Companions has created a residency programme providing 12 month of free workspace to 2 native entrepreneurs. The primary residents are Gabriella Lafor, who helps discover media careers for Black British expertise, and textile designer Coco Cripps.
“It is actually a spot the place folks can work in their very own area, but in addition be a part of a neighborhood,” mentioned Cheung, “and that is a way that we actually need to amplify and encourage.”
Film is by Jim Stephenson. Images is by Jack Hobhouse and Jim Stephenson.