Space House

The iconic Grade II-listed Space House in Camden, London is being sensitively refurbished and extended to create 255,000sqft of high-quality workspace with ground floor flexible retail space and improved public realm. The revitalisation of the landmark will preserve and enhance it, allowing people to work and socialise in and around outstanding 20th century architecture. Completed in 1968, Space House was designed by Richard Seifert and Partners and is known for its innovative architecture, comprising a distinctive 15-storey cylindrical tower, eight-storey block and connecting bridge with a striking precast concrete façade. Previously occupied by the Civil Aviation Authority, the building was refurbished in 1996 and 2003. Proposals remove the layers of subsequent interventions to retain, expose and celebrate the original architecture and create complementary interventions to accommodate modern working environments. Proposals reimagine the existing building and add two floors of office accommodation to the tower and a single-storey extension to the block. The new, set-back top floor of the tower will create a 3,600sqft terrace, and the extension to the block will provide communal meeting rooms, bar and 5,000sqft terrace. Built in the era of the car, the building’s car-centric elements will be reinvented for the future. One of three ramps to the basement will be retained to provide dedicated cycle access to end of journey facilities. The existing car-park will provide expansive cycle storage for over 500 bikes alongside 65 showers and changing facilities. Elsewhere, a void will be punctured through the two-storey basement to provide a 16,500sqft double-height event space. Occupants will be welcomed by a double-height reception at the base of the tower. Its 10,000sqft circular, column-free floorplates will be flooded with natural light, providing 360-degree views. A beautiful, intimate lobby in the block grants access to eight floors of 8,000sqft office floorplates. Levels one to three are connected by the sky bridge to create large contiguous floors and a third-floor garden terrace. The egalitarian workspaces feature long sightlines, offering high levels of visual connectivity to support collaborative working. The loft-style offices feature polished concrete floors and new terrazzo flooring will be installed throughout common areas, with original mosaic tiling in the stair cores retained. Space House will be the first listed building in London to achieve BREEAM ‘Outstanding’. The deep articulation of the existing façade provides passive shading, and dilapidated parts of the envelope will be replaced to increase performance to modern standards. A new, high performing services installation will utilise air source heat pumps, and heating/cooling will be provided by bespoke chilled beams – designed to fit seamlessly within the existing radial ceiling coffers. Space House will provide a highly-connected and diverse digital platform for its occupiers, with FitWel and Wired Score Platinum accreditation. The existing public realm, previously a private car-park, will be enhanced to provide links between the retail uses of the buildings. An existing petrol station canopy at the base of the tower will be enclosed to create The Filling Station restaurant, activating the street level and opening it up to public use.