Office and showrooms for fashion brands
The brief was to form a base for a company that houses various upmarket fashion brands. Trade showrooms are located within the lower ground floor and basement levels of a newly built mixed-use block in Shoreditch.
The client required a mixture of larger and smaller units for brands to inhabit with shared common areas within the building for staff and clients. The materials chosen provide a residential feel to the office areas and a neutral palette of colour to the showroom spaces enabling the tenant to furnish with brand identity.
In the basement the design had to maximise the limited ceiling heights to avoid the existing building services from the occupied apartments above. The solution was to float ceiling rafts under the services while also allowing a new mechanical and electrical installation above. By adopting an open ceiling, track lighting has been set between the rafts and service access, giving flexibility for each tenant.
A gross floor area of 13,000 sq ft fit out was carried out in the 10 weeks following the clients instruction. A short programme resulted in the team having to design around product and material delivery times, a limited existing electrical power supply to the unit and various other challenges.
The second stage of the project is currently on site with completion for rental due at the end of March 2010.
March 2010