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INSIGHTS SITE LINES Doing more with less


James Parker visited the White Collar Factory in east London to discover how the architects stripped the building back to its bare essentials to harness concrete’s maximum performance, as well as its aesthetic qualities


ince it opened last spring, the White Collar Factory, part of the Old Street Yard complex on Old Street’s ‘silicon’ roundabout in east London, has been justly celebrated not only for its rooftop running track but as a set of buildings which offers high-end sustainability via a stripped back and focused design. A considered embracing of unadorned concrete is the key component of architects Alford Hall Monaghan and Morris’ approach and one which adds immensely to the building’s overall aesthetic. By exposing the concrete soffits, the benefits of thermal mass have been fully realised, providing a natural, comfortable atmosphere for staff to work in. The White Collar Factory also features in-slab water cooling, and there are five additional low-rise buildings around a public courtyard, all of which have their concrete frames exposed inside and out. It is the “connecting element” running through the scheme, as project architect Adam Burgess tells ADF.


S Spaces


The accommodation provided at ‘White Collar Factory at Old Street Yard’ comprises offices, studios, incubator space, restaurants and apartments set around a new piece of public realm, with the sixteen-storey White Collar Factory tower at its heart. This major new office building features flexible floor plates, operable windows allowing for extensive natural ventilation, and generous volumes with active exposed concrete soffits and core. The development is fully let, with tenants including design software king Adobe, structural engineer AKT II, and office space provider The Office Group, with the latter fitted out by AHMM to provide an exciting flexible co-working space. The mini-tower represents a new type of development that takes its cue from the multi-level factory typology so beloved of tenants occupying renovated former industrial space across London. Due to there being no suspended ceilings, with all ductwork and electrical services exposed, the floor to soffit heights are 3.45 metres, significantly more generous than traditional speculative office buildings. According to Adam Burgess, this project is distinguished by its having taken the factory style approach to its ultimate conclusion with “services, structure and facade working together in both form and function, removing excess from the building and doing more with less”.


Setting out


There is a strong trend for exposing soffits and ductwork, in this case however it has not been done to follow fashion, but chiefly to


ADF JULY 2018 WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK


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