Black & White Building London, The Office Group Design, Shoreditch Property Interior

Black & White Building

Rivington Street Interior, Shoreditch, London design by BuckleyGrayYeoman Architects

8 Nov 2013

BuckleyGrayYeoman completes The Black & White Building for The Office Group

Design: BuckleyGrayYeoman Architects

Location: 74 Rivington Street, London EC2, England, UK

For: The Office Group

photos © Matt Clayton

The Black & White Building on Rivington Street

Shoreditch-based practice takes converted factory back to basics, exposing original features to provide stylish, flexible drop-in and shared workspaces for creative SMEs.

BuckleyGrayYeoman has completed The Black & White Building for The Office Group, an innovative provider of flexible, design-led office spaces. The project delivers the comprehensive refurbishment of a historic but dilapidated former furniture factory at 74 Rivington Street, creating 11,000 sqft of stylish, flexible workspace over three storeys in the heart of Shoreditch.

photographs © Luke Hayes

Amr Assaad, Associate Director at BuckleyGrayYeoman said:
“The Black & White Building provides customisable, flexible office spaces in a building brimming with historic industrial character. Our refurbishment put a contemporary twist on the existing building: retaining and emphasising the best of the original fabric and making that the starting point for a stylish interior fit-out that celebrates the edgy character and energy of Shoreditch.

“The refurbishment of The Black & White Building makes a significant improvement to Rivington Street, rescuing a derelict hulk by creating a highly recognisable landmark building that embodies the new ambition of the area.

“This project builds on BuckleyGrayYeoman’s experience in delivering high quality offices together with The Office Group which caters towards design-conscious SMEs and start-ups within Hackney and other emerging creative hubs across London. It is fantastic to see this project complete in our own backyard.”

The Black & White Building has been designed by BuckleyGrayYeoman to provide modern office spaces that add a stylish accent to the original fabric of the building. After stripping back and making necessary repairs to the existing brick structure, the building was painted black: a move that pleasingly emphasises the changing texture of the brickwork and creates a prominent, recognisable landmark on Rivington Street. The building’s car park has been repurposed to house a new meeting hub formed of prefabricated containers, along with parking spaces for 30 to 40 bikes.

In line with The Office Group’s dedication to providing green offices, a landscaped terrace has been created on the roof of the building, providing outdoor space for office tenants and enhancing local biodiversity as part of a sustainability strategy that includes rain water harvesting, sensor lighting and solar panels.

The Black & White Building’s striking, contrasting styling – black on the outside, white on the inside – was conceived to provide flexible, bright workspaces that act as a ‘blank canvas’ for local creative SMEs and freelancers. BuckleyGrayYeoman’s interior design shows off the textures of the original brickwork and timber beams and adopts a simple palette of exposed timber and black painted metal. Industrial materials and finishes such as plywood, Stirling OSB, powder-coated metal and grey floor paint have been used alongside a bright yellow accent colour to allude to the building’s former life as a factory. As with all of The Office Group’s buildings, it was ensured that the furniture and fittings were sourced from local suppliers and contractors.

The new interiors have been designed to make the most of the building’s large windows and high ceilings. Shared facilities on each floor, along with informal ground floor break-out areas and an Office Group ClubRooms space, encourage collaborative working and a campus environment.

The Office Group is well established in Shoreditch and has an existing workspace across the road from The Black & White Building. The new building was opened in response to the huge demand for the company to provide more design-led offices in the area – a trend which has been shown across the capital and UK with The Office Group planning to open at least four more buildings next year.

Charlie Green Co-Founder and Co-CEO of The Office Group explains:
“We tasked BuckleyGrayYeoman to create a concept to echo our company’s ethos and the vibrancy of Shoreditch and are delighted with results. The style of The Black & White Building’s drop-in ClubRoom space and flexible offices reflects the character of the warehouse building and responds to the profile of the local market.

“The way that people are working is changing and we are adapting to those needs through innovative offerings such as The Black & White Building. Things are rarely black and white and when it comes to people, no two employees are identical with no one person working in the same way every day. The Black & White Building offers workers a choice of areas to work from that best suit their needs in an environment that’s been created to reflect the local urban and energetic culture. Our offices are more than just buildings as we put a strong emphasis on creating a real sense of community amongst our members.”

The Black & White Building is now open at 74 Rivington Street, London EC2A 3AY.

photos © Matt Clayton

About BuckleyGrayYeoman
BuckleyGrayYeoman is an award-winning architecture practice, based in Shoreditch, London. The firm has a reputation for delivering pragmatic solutions with the highest quality of design, regardless of the size or complexity of the challenge.
BuckleyGrayYeoman has developed a working relationship with Hackney over 15 years, with its Director sitting on the Hackney Design Review Panel, and seven current projects in the area ranging from £1.5m to £30m developments.

With an expanding portfolio of work across a range of sectors including offices, residential, retail, hotels, schools and masterplanning, recently completed projects include The Buckley Building for Derwent London in Clerkenwell; Fashion Street in Shoreditch; the Fred Perry Headquarters in Covent Garden; Citadines apart’hotels in Holborn, Kensington and Paris; along with various private residential homes.
www.buckleygrayyeoman.com / Twitter @BGYArchitects

About The Office Group
The Office Group is an innovative provider of high quality, design-led, flexible offices and meeting rooms and with its ClubRooms, it also provides drop-in and shared workspaces throughout Central London. Working with local artists, up-and-coming interior designers and exciting young architects, their premises are some of the most exciting and environmentally friendly workspaces in London.

The company aims to provide inspiring workspaces for people which are simpler, design-led and greener whilst maintaining value for money to enable every way of working for every sort of business. The Office Group also has a joint venture with Network Rail, providing flexible office space for commuters at some of the busiest rail terminals in the UK.
The Office Group currently operates 15 buildings. For more information please visit: www.theofficegroup.co.uk / Twitter: @TheOfficeGroup

Black & White Building London, Soho Restaurant images / information from BuckleyGrayYeoman, Architects

BuckleyGrayYeoman, Architects

Location: 74 Rivington Street, London EC2A 3AY, UK

London, England, UK