A derelict brutalist building becomes east London’s newest creative hub
![Architecture studio SODA is behind the transformation of an existing industrial building](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/oHTWvEcD8rnpaMLky8k376-415-80.jpg)
Up-and-coming London architects SODA have turned 50,000 square feet of derelict brutalist architecture into a magnet for creatives. Built by Irish architects Munce & Kennedy in 1964, the Silver Building in the capital’s Royal Docks was formerly a brewery. Its reincarnation is the brainchild of Nick Hartwright, a social entrepreneur who sets up affordable workspaces for businesses, artists, designers and creative SMEs around London.
Two of the Silver Building’s biggest spaces are occupied by Block9, set designers for Banksy, Lana Del Rey and Gorillaz, and award-winning young fashion designer Craig Green. Part-funded by the GLA’s London Regeneration Fund, the Silver Building – whose closest neighbour is a flyover – will only appeal to those who embrace the industrial aesthetic and gritty surroundings.
‘It had been squatted and was riddled with asbestos,’ says SODA director Russell Potter, ‘so as we peeled back the building’s layers. Then it was about having a light touch and focusing on the key spaces.’ That light touch included exposing ceilings, getting rid of some partition walls, cleaning up the existing light fittings, and retaining the terrazzo stair and parquet flooring.
The main entrance opens on to a reception and café area, whose bar is formed of chunky concrete slabs. Block9’s 5,500 square foot workshop is next door. Upstairs, a mezzanine level doubles as a gallery and event space, and the architects punched two windows in an internal wall, to let light in and offer views of Block9’s industrial-scale creativity.
Most of the 34 studios are housed in a long corridor on the first floor. These raw rooms sit behind Carlsberg’s original hardwood office doors, and many have views over Emirate’s Air Line cable car nearby.
As a so-called Meanwhile Space, the Silver Building has a seven-year lease. After that, Hartwright’s intention is for the building’s tenants to inform the flavour of the area’s future redevelopment, which will include 200,000 square foot of workspace as well as 5,500 new homes.
The structure is located in London’s Royal Docks, one the capital’s emerging east districts.
The project is the renovation of an old brutalist brewery building.
When the project started, the structure was derelict and abandoned for some 20 years.
Tenants now include fashion designer Craig Green and set builders Block 9.
INFORMATION
For more information visit SODA’s website
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Clare Dowdy is a London-based freelance design and architecture journalist who has written for titles including Wallpaper*, BBC, Monocle and the Financial Times. She’s the author of ‘Made In London: From Workshops to Factories’ and co-author of ‘Made in Ibiza: A Journey into the Creative Heart of the White Island’.
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Tour the Natural History Museum’s new gardens, a Jurassic lark in London
The Natural History Museum in London has unveiled two new gardens, with resident dinosaurs, after a transformation led by architects Feilden Fowles
By Bridget Downing Published
-
Drama Republic moves into a colourful, handcrafted workspace in London
For the new creative HQ of production company Drama Republic, Emil Eve Architects remodels a warehouse into office space in London’s Holborn
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
Hideaway House in London features timber panelling inspired by the New York hospitality scene
The elegantly refurbished Hideaway House by Studio McW in London features timber panelling inspired by Philip Johnson’s The Four Seasons Restaurant
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
An Uxbridge annexe by Bureau de Change is a design for effortless intergenerational living
Uxbridge Bower, a residential annexe in west London, is a contemporary addition offering both privacy and connection for the needs of a family
By Tianna Williams Published
-
‘Modern Buildings’ tours south-east London through a guide to post-war Blackheath and Greenwich
‘Modern Buildings: Blackheath and Greenwich’ is a detailed survey of a London borough’s rich trove of new modernist architecture
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Triangle House invites you to its inner world of colourful surprises
Triangle House by Artefact is a private home in Epsom, outside London, combining Caribbean style, colour and functionality
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Tour the refreshed Saint Andrew Holborn: an icon reveals its crisp new interior in London
DaeWha Kang reimagines Saint Andrew Holborn church through a sensitive architectural solution that blends tradition and modernity in London
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A Suffolk house by Studio Bark pairs a fresh visual language with low-energy design
Suffolk house Water Farm is off-the-grid but defiantly on the map, a bold new object in the landscape with a strong visual impact and minimal carbon footprint
By Jonathan Bell Published