Drama and history enhanced in a modern milieu

Project: Listed Refurbishment, near Covent Garden, London

Role: Architect, Lead Designer, Interior Designer, Project Manager and Contract Administrator

The brief: To refurbish a symbolic vanguard of London’s theatrical heritage into a contemporary yet warm home.

Size: 16,000 sq ft

Worthy of note: As a keen collector of modern art, the client wanted to use the building’s church-like main space to exhibit artwork and sculptures.

Retaining a modern aesthetic while providing space to exhibit artwork

The location

The property sits in the heart of London’s theatreland, close to The Theatre Royal Drury Lane, the oldest theatre site in London. The large Georgian warehouse was originally built to create and house painted theatrical scenery and sets.

Because it is the oldest surviving purpose-built example of such a unique function, as well as being a symbol of London’s love of stage and theatre, the building is Grade II listed. As such, planning and listed building consent had to be obtained for permission to remodel and repurpose the previous industrial building into a contemporary and clean, yet warm and welcoming home.

Utilising space but combining function with contemporary charm

Background

By the mid-19th Century, theatre was attracting the emerging middle classes. Antiquity and history had become fashionable interests, reflected in the emergence of pictorial drama, which emphasised the aesthetic and accuracy of costume and set designs.

Aesthetics quickly evolved into a love of spectacle and sensation in the late 19th Century. The Theatre Royal Drury Lane was famous for such productions thanks to scene painter and set designer, Bruce Smith. His work included a train crash and a Two Thousand Guinea horse race that featured real horses. Set design had become an art form; large warehouses were used to create these giant theatrical pieces and store them.

With such a rich historical backdrop to the project we worked closely with our client and the planning officers to design a home that acknowledged its historic structure, identity, and purpose, by reflecting its past life and its precious memories; memories that we preserved in many of the intricate design elements that we detailed to ensure the building’s historic legacy was retained.

The history and the drama of the building is retained and enhanced.

Design elements

Around the perimeter of the first (principal) floor of the property, there remained a narrow trough that would have once held rolls of canvas. These would have gradually been raised up to the full four storeys of the space using a series of pulleys and ropes, allowing the scenic artists to create their dramatic backdrops. Today, the pulleys and blocks are still visible in the roof, whilst we cleverly repurposed the troughs so their memory remains, with some glazed to allow light to flood into the new swimming pool below and others now housing trench heaters under decorative grilles. With large areas of glazing to the voluminous main space, these trench heaters also serve a very practical purpose.

By designing a space that honoured its incredible theatrical heritage, we were able to retain the feeling of space and volume in the building whilst making full use of the space and creating a stylish and comfortable home for our client. This was achieved with what became known as the ‘white box’: a building within the building. A three-storey high living area inserted into the main space allowing its overall volume to be preserved, with a clear line of sight all around and under it. The surrounding volumes of space that remain allow our client to display their impressive art collection that includes large pieces of modern sculpture. These hanging modern pieces of art only add to the drama, beauty, and elegance of the cathedral-like space: a gallery and a home juxtaposed. A nod once again to the building’s artistic heritage and story.

The ‘white box’ houses a central living stack with a study, media and reading rooms. It was important that we introduced more light into the space to ensure that the former industrial space became a warm and welcoming home, so new internal and external windows were designed to maximise the amount of natural light entering these living spaces.

The main central staircase was also redesigned to allow natural light to be drawn into the property. Its bespoke timber and steel design connects all six floors, reaching up to the new roof terrace. This large space, formed of the roof of the ‘white box’, has a glass roof that can slide away when the weather allows to create an open roof garden, complete with an outdoor kitchen: a stunning outdoor space in the heart of the capital.

All materials, finishes and bespoke joinery were carefully selected with our client to provide a contemporary and clean look that was a key part of the brief, whilst ensuring that they accented the historic fabric of the building.

Comfortable elegance with a modern twist

The vision realised

The client brought Lees Associates into the complex project mid-way through its initial design after losing confidence that the project at that time could be delivered satisfactorily and to their brief. Appointing us as Architect, Lead Designer, Interior Designer, Project Manager and Contract Administrator ensured the delivery of their project ran smoothly and effectively. Our role is always to guide our clients through the design process to help them exceed and realise their vision. We were able to do this with ease by building a detailed and coordinated BIM model. This allowed the client to view the design in 3D on their iPad and navigate themselves around the spaces. This proved extremely valuable to the client and allowed them to make better informed decisions as the design developed.

In this way, we were able to create the home of our client’s dreams, where new memories can be made and giving the building a new story to tell.