PROJECT 4 045
KEY SUPPLIERS Joinery
Bell Joinery
bell-interiors.co.uk
Lighting Flos
flos.com Roll & Hill
rollandhill.com Rubn
rubn.com
Santa & Cole
santacole.com
Flooring Floored Genius
flooredgenius.com Forbo
forbo.com Inopera - Terrazzo
in-opera.co.uk
Special finishes Mayes & Warwick – knurled metalwork
mayesandwarwick.com
Fabrics Kvadrat
kvadrat.dk
Previous page The bright, sophisticated lounge is ideal for both meetings and quiet reflection
Oppoite, left The high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows in the lounge bring in plenty of natural light
Oppoite, bottom Brock House sits on Great Portland Street, known as ‘Motor Row’ in the 1920s and 1930s
manufacturing and machine age finesse, represented through metal surfaces and fixtures of glossy chrome, brushed steel or a car-related metalworking technique known as knurling (a kind of crosshatched effect), recreated by Mayes & Warwick.
SODA was responsible for the branding and graphics, as well as the interiors and the colour palette needed to work across both 3D and 2D, Potter explains. Surfaces and soft furnishings use neutrals of beige and brown mixed with luxurious touches such as fine veneers and gilded details across graphics and signage. The marble reception desk, in the red-brown of Rosso Alicante marble, introduces an ambition of permanence: the idea of an obelisk, Potter says. The basement floor, connected to the ground via a double-height void, offers a more secluded communal area with built-in soft seating and comfortable nooks. Unfortunately, a planned screening room – linking back to the building’s theatrical past – didn’t make it to the final design, but the accompanying bar did survive. With the communal and casual areas concentrated on the ground and lower-ground floors, the upper levels offer more conventional ofice space, meeting rooms and phone and focus booths. More playful elements of the design are toned down, but the regular tea points feature the scheme’s distinctive brushed
steel countertops and splashbacks, and cabinets with knurled metal handles. Terrazzo flooring is used throughout the core and main staircase, combined with steel handrails – again with the knurling detail. Throughout the eight floors of Brock House, furniture and fixtures were chosen in collaboration with TOG’s in-house team.
Potter mentions how SODA likes there to be two levels to a design: the part that everyone can appreciate, but also subtle references to historical detail for those who might be interested. Examples from this project include the aforementioned knurling, but there is also a stepped profile of contrasting tiles in the bathrooms, which echoes a historical detail found while researching the building – the gilded motif applied to the large showroom windows in Brock House’s Motor Row days. A diversity of design across its spaces is a benefit to TOG’s model, allowing the company to appeal to a wider range of workers rather than being typecast – or being ‘more agnostic’ than its competitors as co-founder Charlie Green put it in an interview with the RIBA Journal. Thanks to both the original references and SODA’s treatment of them, Brock House does feel different to many of the other workspaces of a similar calibre, and offers a destination worth trying for TOG’s members.
Top Tea points feature the distinctive steel countertops and splashbacks, and cabinets with knurled metal handles
Above left Neutral beiges and browns are combined with luxurious details and art deco touches
Above right The heavy curtain hung around the central ground floor space is a subtle reference to Brock House’s cinematic past
Left Brock House provides a quiet escape from the West End, with spaces designed to help people focus
ALL IMAGES: BEN ANDERS
BILLY BOLTON
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