Talkback London 1999–2001

The scheme accommodates 250 people, a TV studio, editing facilities and rehearsal space. It takes its cue from a collegiate research environment. Every office has direct access to a central cloistered garden which is the focus for circulation and the life of the organisation.

‘Spaces are designed not so much for specific activities as for inhabitation, pure and simple.’ Irina Davidovci, 2002

Image 1

  • 9910_NK_N1.jpg
    East façade of Newman Street building with gardens, hall and lift campanile in foreground. Generally, windows are replaced by doors leading directly onto an external deck, part of the cloister, at every level
  • 9910_NK_N2.jpg
    Balcony view of East façade
  • 9910_High_Res_N13.jpg
    Space between the Newman Street and Newman Passage buildings as found
  • 9910_NK_N3.jpg
    Detail of hall, lift campanile and bridges
  • 9910_NK_N8.jpg
    Aerial shot of multistorey cloister, first floor herb garden (shortly after it was planted) and ground floor courtyard. Each TV production team has an office with its own "front door" onto the cloister
  • 9910_NK_N7.jpg
    Ground floor courtyard with door open to hall. Boxes within the space mask supply and extract ventilation to basement TV studio
  • 9910_NK_N10.jpg
    Central courtyard seen from hall - throughout, conventionally mass produced building products are replaced by handmade windows, doors, ironmongery and lights all of which are set against a backdrop of pink fletton brickwork
  • 9910_NK_N9.jpg
    The entrance, an alley, like Alice's descent into "Wonderland", removes staff and visitors completely from the West End
  • 9910_NK_N12.jpg
    The focus of the hall is a stair not a reception desk. The hall also points to a domesticity that characterises the building
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Technical

  • Appointment: 1999
  • Construction start: 2000
  • Completion: 2001
  • Area: 2,600m2
  • Budget: £2.5m
  • Form of contract: JCT approximate quantities bill
  • Client: talkbackTHAMES
  • Contractor: Higgins City Ltd
  • Services Engineer: Fulcrum Consulting
  • Quantity Surveyor: BPTW
  • Landscape Architect: Jones Environmental
  • Building Control: MLM
  • Graphic Designer: O'Leary Prescott

Bibliography

  • ‘Talkback, Henley Halebrown (2001); subsequently The Mandrake Hotel, Manalo & White (2017)’, in: Architecture Today, issue 328 (Built Environment and Architecture Media, Online, January 2024), pp.61–64
  • ‘Winners unveiled for the Architecture Today Awards 2023’, in: Architecture Today (Online, 2023)
  • ‘Talkback’, in: Architecture Today, issue 328 (Built Environment and Architecture Media, London, November 2023), p.41
  • , ‘Finalists unveiled for Architecture Today Awards 2023’, in: Architecture Today (Online, 7 July 2023)
  • Fran Williams, ‘Discover the AJBL: Talkback London by Henley Halebrown Rorrison, 2001’, in: Architects' Journal (Online, 3 March 2021)
  • Simon Henley, Editorial Critique: The Facade A Liminal Space, issue 121 (The Plan Magazine, 2020), pp.11–16
  • David Taylor, ‘Working The Social’, in: New London Quarterly, issue 42 (2020), pp.24–28
  • 50 years of London Architecture 1960-2010 (Wordsearch / Architecture Club, June 2010), p.201
  • ‘Design Legacies: Offices’, in: FX Magazine (April 2010), p.62
  • Open House, Designed to Work, London (September 2007), pp.30–31
  • ‘Investigating for You - What Role Do Craftsmanship Skills and Manual Work in General Play In Your Projects And In Your Work at The Drawing Board?’, in: ARK The Sto Journal for Architects, issue 04 (2006), p.13
  • AJ Focus (November 2002), p.3
  • Tony Chapman, ‘Talkback Productions’, in: Architecture 02 the RIBA Awards (2002), pp.152–153
  • ‘Buschow Henley Talkback Productions’, in: a+u (August 2002), pp.76–81
  • ‘Awards Retain Southern Slant’, in: The Architects' Journal (13 June 2002), p.22
  • ‘Urban Cloister’, in: The Architectural Review (April 2002), pp.44–47
  • ‘Building: Community Focus: Talkback Offices by Buschow Henley’, in: Architecture Today (February 2002), pp.36–46
  • Kenneth Powell, ‘Talkback Headquarters Newman Street, W1’, in: New London Architecture (Conran Octopus, 2001), pp.220–221
  • ‘Kontext Materialu a Pameti’, in: Forum, Kontext Materialu a Pameti (April 2001), pp.20–25

Awards

  • Architecture Today Awards, Workplace, (Winner) 2023
  • Best In Europe – Office, judged one of the five best office buildings in Europe, (Commendation) 2004
  • RIBA Award, Award for Architecture, 2002
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