PROJECT REPORT: ADAPTIVE REUSE 39
FITZROVIA TOWNHOUSE LONDON
Hive mind
SPPARC encouraged a family business hesitant to the perceived limitations of heritage restorations to rescue a Grade II-listed Fitzrovia townhouse and create an elegant modern family office. James Parker reports.
L
ondon architecture studio SPPARC built on its existing relationship with an ethical investment client in Fitzrovia to achieve a striking and playful restoration of a five-storey Georgian townhouse into a workspace that really works, with a stunning timber-topped extension. The Grade II listed building, in a terrace of handsome similar properties just north of Oxford Street, had seen a range of interventions over the years, including a non Regs compliant project in the 1990s which removed large parts of the upper floors, along with much of the original character. SPPARC and founder Trevor Morriss were determined to not only reinstate these much-missed features for the benefit of the client and to rescue a handsome Georgian interior, but also to add further spaces which would provide a vibrant communal hub for the business. The restoration and addition encompasses the full five floors of the building, plus a two-storey rear extension. This bestows a new social hub and kitchen, an extra space for social value community use and a roof terrace garden that adds further opportunities for employees to mingle and socialise as well as work. The eye-catching honeycombed-shaped timber and glass roof also provides a lightwell connecting the two levels – which would otherwise be spaces relying on artificial lighting, enclosed on three sides by walls. SPPARC has recently demonstrated something of a specialism in careful adaptive reuse (or “creative reuse” as Trevor Morriss prefers it), but in much
larger, more complex projects like Borough Yards, and the Olympia restoration it’s progressing to completion with Heatherwick currently. But the practice is applying the same level of meticulous attention to detail as it discovered the building’s secrets, aligned with some modern touches, which has its own sensitivities being a family-owned business.
Design development In the words of Trevor Morriss, principal at SPPARC, this project is “the product of six years spent carefully crafting and curating a modern, best-in-class workspace that celebrates the Grade II listed building’s heritage, remediating works that stripped it of its Georgian charm.”
He says the guiding principle for the
client, and therefore his practice, was that “this was their office, but they approached it as if it was their home.” Having Danish heritage, the client was keen to adopt some of the Scandinavian interior design principles that SPPARC were bringing to the table, as these harmonised well with the restored light and spacious interiors. The design development with the client saw them taking a hands-on role: “This wasn’t a corporate client, they were very, very invested and wanted to be involved in every kind of aspect of the design process.” Genuine collaboration was the watchword on this project, with the client making comments while the architects were making sketchings and models. This was “exactly what we like to do,” enthuses Morriss.
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