Client Jestico + Whiles
Location London, UK
Status Built
Completion 2017
Sutton Yard is our new home in the heart of creative district Clerkenwell, in London. With the High Speed Two (HS2) railway forcing us from our Euston home of over 20 years, we used the opportunity positively to seek a space which would house the whole London studio, and through which we were able to revitalise our working practices.
We took the second floor of Sutton Yard, a light-filled and elegant upgrade of a concrete and brick 1960s office building, with computer game designers and a media agency residing on the floors above and below us.
The existing plan form had three distinct wings centred around an open central space. This enabled our arrangement of three working studios, with a flexible ‘town square’ at their heart used for meeting, eating, collaborating and presenting, as well as for hosting events.
The building provided a modest base of finishes characterised by sand-blasted concrete, which we built upon using stained ash, lacquered plywood and woven flooring. We also designed the furniture and workstations, which are bespoke to the practice.
Our ‘kitchen table’, a custom-designed modular set of plywood benches and mobile tables can be configured in any way to support day-to-day practice life. This, together with a ‘working wall’ that accommodates a range of uses, and multiple touchdown areas, encourages more interaction amongst the team. We deliberately created a non-corporate workspace that enables many of the things we do and make to co-exist seamlessly.
We have engaged with more agile ways of working, and fewer desks than staff, to facilitate open collaboration across the wide spectrum of design we are involved with, and to create adaptable and social spaces for the benefit of all.
The flexible workplace we have created has transformed our office into a showcase of our shared vision for the future, which relies on collaboration, flexibility, and a desire to promote excellent design and an inspirational working life.
Our new home and way of working, coupled with a branding refresh to reflect our new identity, heralds a newly invigorated era for the practice.
