98–100 De Beauvoir Road London 2017–2022

98–100 De Beauvoir Road is a pair of connected Edwardian industrial buildings that provide additional studio space for small businesses in Hackney’s De Beauvoir Town. They have been designed so that they can be let to a single occupant or on a floor-by-floor multi-let basis.

This low carbon retrofit scheme retains much of the fabric and embodied energy in the brickwork, timber floors, cast iron and concrete structures. Lasting qualities of building traditions have been transferred to contemporary architecture. And the craft-based low-tech building techniques employed indicate how elementary the construction of an office could be.

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    The calm repetitive street facade gives way to a more ad-hoc rear elevation. The saw tooth roof of No. 98 was retained and refurbished, alongside generous galleried decks to serve each floor of No. 100
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    The Gordon Matta-Clark inspired new stair core of No. 100 has rotating arcs, cut through the existing timber structure, and propped with new steel and timber diagonals
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    Outdoor space plays an important part. A sequence of spaces – forecourt, a covered walkway and two interlinking courtyards made possible by the demolition of an outbuilding
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    Axometric of interventions at 98-100
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    Ground floor plan before (bottom) and after (top) – new courtyards link 98 and 100 De Beauvoir Road
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    Courtyard, retained façade and new central core within
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    First (bottom) and third (top) floor plans
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    Courtyard - the design combines careful restoration with new construction
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    Courtyards are laid with a mat of pink concrete and a brickwork border
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    Stairs leading to new courtyard
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    Isometric of a core detail
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    Lapped timber detailing of the roof structure
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    Toplit space linking studios (ground floor)
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    The sawtooth north lights in the rear building of No. 98 were refurbished, retaining the existing steel trusses
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    Top floor studio space beneath the refurbished northlights
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    Toplit space linking studios (first floor)
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    Precast concrete staircase and brick structure
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    Perspective of staircase showing coffered insitu concrete landings, arched stair and lapped timber roof detailing
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    Looking up the stairs at the timber roof at No. 98
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    Stairs worm's eye perspective of No. 100
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    Looking up the stairs at the timber roof of No. 100
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    The Gordon Matta-Clark inspired new stair core of No. 100
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    Framing the views of De Beauvoir Town
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    Here on the 3rd floor office space of No. 100, new steel and timber floors span over retained existing steels into a new concrete upstand that ties the repaired brick facade together
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    Office space of No. 100, new steel and timber floors span over retained existing steels into a new concrete upstand that ties the repaired brick facade together
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    On the roof of No. 100, a new pavilion frames a narrow court facing south and the city
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    Perimeter sliding doors providing natural ventilation
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    The generous external circulation allows for greater flexible of letting within the building, as well as providing external amenity for each floor
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    The new 4th floor of No. 100, built in timber and clad in EPDM rubber
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    Roof pavilions are organised around a central rooftop courtyard
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    Sliding doors and windows are carefully detailed to be hidden behind the timber, whilst skylights in each volume allow for excellent levels of natural light and ventilation
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    Street facade with the additional new storey distinguished by a white precast concrete loggia
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    Second floor of No.98 toplit space retains a memory of the demolished structure
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    The project reshapes a terrace of industrial buildings, originally developed at the turn of the Twentieth Century in London’s De Beauvoir Town, to form a central yard and a new roofscape of timber structures wrapped in EPDM rubber
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    Site plan

Technical

  • Appointment: 2017
  • Construction start: 2018
  • Completion: 2022
  • Area: 2487m2
  • Budget: Confidential
  • Form of contract: JCT Standard Building Contract
  • Client: The Benyon Estate
  • Planing Consultant: CMA
  • Structural Engineer: Parmarbrook
  • Services Engineer: AJ Energy
  • Approved Inspector: Building Control Approval
  • Cost Consultant: Castle-Davis
  • Contractor: Sullivan Brothers Construction

Bibliography

Awards

  • The Plan Awards, Renovation, (Shortlisted) 2023
  • AJ Retrofit Awards, Workplace £5-10 million, (Winner) 2023
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