Maple House

Designed for the furniture empire Maples during the 1970s, Maple House on Tottenham Court Road is one of Richard Seifert’s least-known buildings. A vast, granite-clad structure covering an entire city block, it had showrooms in a ground floor podium with blocks of offices and residential apartments above. Since Maples folded in 1997, new retailers have moved into the ground floor, and one block has been connected by bridge to the adjacent hospital for NHS use. Our client, Lazari Investments, was interested in the building’s modernist heritage and wanted to explore how the appeal of the under loved building and its external spaces could be improved. In response, we focused on the health, wellbeing and sustainability agendas, embracing its brutal style. The Phase 1 interventions have reimagined the office entrance and common parts, and stripped back and re-serviced four of the office floors to CAT A, and one to CAT B, revealing light-filled spaces. We have introduced end-of-journey facilities and inserted an ‘urban forest’ into the vast podium courtyard. Planted in the podium courtyard, a fifth elevation overlooked by both offices and apartments, the urban forest is perhaps the building’s greatest amenity, capturing a sense of nature within the dense urban block. The natural layers of mature trees and forest floor contrast with a manufactured layer of café pavilions and access gantries that wind through the landscape. Phase 2 introduces further amenities for the offices. Redundant plant space at eighth floor is converted into a club space, including a library and winter garden. Upper roof spaces are re-purposed to provide generous social terraces. The scheme features alternative uses such as a wellbeing studio, auditorium, events space and bar, improving the building’s overall offer.