Productive Space
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Contents About us...
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Uplifting 6 Progressive 8 Respectful 10 Flexible, adaptable, light-touch studio fit-out
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Affordable, flexible, local workspace
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A progressive school building with a nod to the past
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Enhanced ways of working on Oxford’s science and innovation campus
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Gardensity: Localised, integrated food production
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Intervening in a historic post-industrial setting
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A new mixed-use district in Gothenburg
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Low energy technology and innovation workspace
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About us... Founded
2004
Located
Wapping, London
Team
35 strong
Awards Architect of the Year | Winner 2023 Architecture Today | Winner 2023 Civic Trust | Winner 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 RIBA National | Winner 2016, 2022 Housing Design | Winner 2014, 2015, 2018, 2022 New London | Winner 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021 Clients Argent, Lendlease, Peabody, 17 London Boroughs including Southwark, Westminster and Tower Hamlets, Get Living, Igloo, Backhouse, Be First, Pegasus Life, Pocket Living, British Land, The Skinners’ School, Kent College Canterbury, Dartford Grammar, Empiric Student Housing Frameworks Notting Hill Genesis, Southwark, Bloom, Clarion, Catalyst Peabody, Perfect Circle, L&Q, GLA A+U Panel
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Uplifting We create places people love We believe in the power of architecture to provide sustainable and inspiring places that everyone should thrive and benefit from. Our strong social and moral purpose drives us to use our expertise as architects to make a tangible impact on people’s quality of life.
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Progressive We build for a positive future Our design approach is progressive, responsive to the changing world, continuously evolving but always underpinned by our commitment to create a better life for everyone in society. We create beautifully crafted architecture that responds positively to its surroundings, that challenges convention and creates future legacy.
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Respectful Community, collaborators and the planet We pride ourselves on our proactive and enthusiastic approach to build constructive relationships with everyone we have the pleasure to meet. We strive to make the process enjoyable and lead each project with a sensitive ear and collaborative mindset because we believe people make places.
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Flexible, adaptable, light-touch studio fit-out Metropolitan Wharf The fit-out of our new offices in Wapping was carefully undertaken to minimise the impact on the Grade II listed warehouse building. Free-standing partitions, shelving, kitchen and storage units constructed from naturally-finished plywood give a visual coherence and warmth to the open plan office space that contrasts with the white painted brick, timber and cast iron of the warehouse structure. The plywood is complemented by other natural materials; galvanised cable trays and cork pin-up boards. The layout of the office emphasises the open, collaborative nature of the studio whilst providing different environments to work in.
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Affordable, flexible, local workspace
High Street Swanley Swanley town centre by Sevenoaks District Council. The building incorporates 17 new homes and a business hub/ co-working space at ground floor adding to the activity, vibrancy and economic vitality of the High Street. The 3-storey design is intended to be a contemporary, yet sensitive, intervention into the high street with a palette of materials that echoes the tones of the surrounding buildings and a rhythm that echoes the adjacent shopfronts.
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Project
High Street Swanley
Location
Swanley, Kent
Client
Sevenoaks District Council
Project Cost
Undisclosed
Status Under construction
A progressive school building with a nod to the past The Mitchell Building The Skinners’ School is a highly respected grammar school in Royal Tunbridge Wells which is expanding to accommodate a growing number of pupils. We were appointed to design a new 3-storey building in a key location on the public frontage, between two of the original Victorian buildings on the site. The new building contains a sixth-form centre, English department and library. The design was developed from a careful analysis of the Gothic revival style of the original school buildings and comprises a design which uses a matching brick with a strong emphasis on verticality and repetition, in a similar manner to the existing buttressed hall. The result is an architecture which is both highly contemporary and respectful of its historic context. Like its Victorian neighbours, the building is designed to last 100 years. The quality and detail of the brickwork ensure it sits perfectly in its context, as a symbol of 21st century education in a historic setting that will continue to provide great spaces for learning for generations to come.
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Project
The Mitchel Building
Location
Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Client
The Skinners’ School
Project Cost Undisclosed Status Completed 2020 Awards RIBA National Award 2022 | Winner RIBA South-east Region Award 2022 | Winner Civic Trust Award 2022 | Winner National Building & Construction Award 2022 | Shortlisted AJ Award 2021 | Shortlisted Surface Design Award 2021 | Shortlisted Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society Award | Winner
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A progressive school building with a nod to the past The Mitchell Building The building centred on creating uplifting, stimulating spaces to learn, grow and promote wellbeing in harmony with the surroundings. Sustainability permeated every step of the design process. Natural, biophilic materials are used throughout with marmoleum flooring, timber cladding, wood-wool acoustic panels and carpets made from recycled fishing nets. Not only does this provide a beautiful aesthetic but studies also show that the use of natural materials can improve performance, improve mood and lower blood pressure essential for learning environments. Passive daylighting and natural ventilation was prioritised with all classrooms being double or triple aspect, hugely reducing reliance on artificial lighting and air conditioning, whilst exposed concrete soffits regulate the internal temperature and give generous floor to ceiling heights.
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“... the architectural design of a wonderful building that is imaginative, practical, in sympathy with surrounding buildings but also striking in its C21st contrast and pleasingly sustainable.” Edward Wesson, Headmaster & Paul Johnston, Bursar
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Enhanced ways of working on Oxford’s science and innovation campus Harwell Hide Harwell Campus is a science, technology and innovation campus with close ties to Oxford University. The hides provide tranquil workspaces overlooking an existing lagoon. Each pavilion is clad in angled facets of timber cladding and mirrored glass with each offering a distinct working environment. To reduce the impact on the ecology of the site the structure of the Hides will touch the ground very lightly in localised areas, with no major excavation or earthworks, and there will be no hard paved paths or vehicle access. The pavilions have been constructed offsite using crosslaminated timber (CLT) to reduce the impact on the ecology of the site. The use of timber cladding and CLT minimises the embodied carbon, whilst natural passive ventilation and woodburning stoves minimise energy in use. The Hides have been arranged to minimise the impact on the site’s ecology, trees and planting and the landscape design will reinforce and enhance the existing flora.
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Project
Harwell Hide
Location
Harwell, Oxfordshire
Client
Harwell Campus
Project Cost
Undisclosed
Status Completed 2022 Awards
British Council of Offices Award 2022 | Finalist
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Gardensity: Localised, integrated food production Meridian Water Gardensity is a vision for a zero-carbon community for Meridian Water in Enfield. Underpinned by Garden City principles the vision seeks to address the challenges of the urban environment by creating a resilient and healthy community structured around an integrated local food system. Gardensity will empower the community to live more sustainable and healthy lifestyles by providing locally grown food, minimising energy use, reducing transportation and changing attitudes to consumption, creating a stronger and more stable community in the process. The proposal, developed in conjunction with Grow Tottenham, Susan Parham, Webb Yates, Hoare Lea, Human City, Arcadis and Savills comprises a resilient and sustainable urban community centred on food production at different scales. The integration of homes with food production results in a more sustainable community, with outstanding external amenity space, a greater sense of community, opportunities for education and a heightened relationship with nature where nurturing and growth are central to the shared ethos.
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Project
Meridian Water
Location
Meridian Water, Enfield
Client
Enfield Council
Project Cost
Undisclosed
Status Research / Design Code
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Gardensity: Localised, integrated food production Meridian Water A typical urban block proposes large family dual-aspect scissor flats with generous gardens that can be used for growing and which provide excellent amenity. Communal allotments on the roof together with urban gardening and markets on the ground floor make for a self-sustaining community. The ethos is extended to the public realm to create a network of edible and biodiverse routes throughout the development. This allows residents to benefit at different levels of participation, from passive observer and consumer to full blown grower whether it be as part of a community garden, personal grower or even an urban farmer. The design seeks to deliver the vision at an appropriate scale and density to make optimum use of sites to deliver much-needed homes. The study will inform the design guide for the Meridian Water masterplan and will establish principles that underpin the plot designs.
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MERIDIAN GROWTH
MERIDIAN MARKETS
MERIDIAN FOODS MERIDIAN MAKERS
Intervening in a historic postindustrial setting Granary Square Pavilion Granary Square Pavilion incorporates a retail unit, public WCs and public access lift connecting Granary Square to Lower Stable Street on a prominent site opposite the Granary Building and Thomas Heatherwick’s new retail complex at Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross. The roof of the pavilion extends the public space of Granary Square completing the western corner of the space. The pavilion completes Granary Square, extending the public realm across its roof, whilst presenting an active frontage to the adjacent Goods Yard Ramp and Lower Stable Street. The pavilion seeks to be an understated, contemporary, yet high quality, addition to King’s Cross that engages with, but doesn’t compete with, its surrounding context. The pavilion has a decorative cast iron façade that extends up to the form a balustrade to Granary Square. The pattern of the cast iron is inspired by the molecular structure of coal referencing the site’s industrial heritage. The pavilion is one of three public realm interventions we have added at King’s Cross together with Gasholder Park and Jellicoe Gardens.
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Project
Granary Square Pavilion
Location
Plaistow, Newham
Client
King’s Cross Central Ltd Partners / Argent
Project Cost Undisclosed Status Completed 2019 Awards Civic Trust Award 2021 | Winner New London Award 2020 | Winner
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A new mixed-use district in Gothenburg District Bearing The site is a factory complex in the north of Gothenburg, comprising a series of beautiful industrial buildings alongside the river Savean. It was originally built in phases during the first half of the 20th century and has been a focus for the working and cultural life of many people in the area, but the ball bearing factory has now been replaced by more modern facilities nearby. We have worked closely with Stena Fastigheter and Gothenburg City Council to develop a place-making vision for the future of the site, together with a framework to set out how this can be achieved. This work has been informed by researching the best examples of industrial regeneration projects in Europe, in parallel with a detailed assessment of the site’s history, fabric and context. The development includes around a thousand new homes, a linear park alongside the river, and renovation of the most interesting existing buildings to provide workspace, cultural, retail and education facilities. The intention is to breathe new life into the site by revealing the history and character of the factory complex, making it an exciting new destination, and playing a pivotal role in the regeneration of northern Gothenburg.
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Project
District Bearing
Location
Gothenburg, Sweden
Client
Stena Fastigheter
Project Cost
Undisclosed
Status RIBA Stage 2
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Low energy technology and innovation workspace Project Zeus This speculative tech industrial building is intended to be one of the most sustainable buildings of its type.It comprises a superstructure of engineered timber with charred timber cladding to minimise embodied carbon, and is designed to allow natural ventilation and lighting, whilst minimising any unwanted solar gain. The site plan brings the soft landscaping of the surroundings into the heart of the development, as a focus for tenants working in the buildings, contributing to a very high sense of well-being in the workplace.
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Project
Project Zeus
Location
Harwell, Oxfordshire
Client
Harwell Campus
Project Cost
Undisclosed
Status RIBA Stage 2
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Bell Phillips Architects Ltd Unit 305 Metropolitan Wharf 70 Wapping Wall London E1W 3SS 020 7234 9330 www.bellphillips.com