Description

“The Foundry” is an office building in the district of Vauxhall south of the Thames and was originally a shoe polish factory. The industrial building, built in 1902, was converted for the Social Justice and Human Rights Centre Company to provide office space for small non-governmental organisations. The name “The Foundry – a place for change” expresses its social purpose: to support organisations for social justice and human rights and to encourage the exchange of ideas among the activist groups. The project is an initiative by the Ethical Property Company, founded in 1998 by Andrew King and Jamie Hartzell, two entrepreneurs with the conviction that making money and doing good are not contradictory aims. They promise investors a return on investment that is also expressed in social and ecological aspects. “The Foundry” is the group’s sixth London property and the first with an explicit architectural ambition. At 1,050 Pounds Sterling per square metre, the budget was modest in order to make the project feasible given the low rental terms for its users. Among other things, cost savings were achieved by laying floors with reclaimed carpets from office towers in Canary Wharf. The client’s wish to plan for the long term, including minimising subsequent running and maintenance costs was an advantage, and meant that the architects could in places choose a somewhat higher-quality and more durable solution.

The combination of old and new addresses the project’s well-defined goals with spatial means. The aim of promoting exchange between the approximately 30 small organisations and to raise their level of professionalisation is borne out by the architecture: according to the project architect Lynton Pepper, the users spend on average 60% of their working time in their rented space and the rest in the communal areas.

The structure of “The Foundry” is quickly appraised: the factory was extended to the west with an elongated section containing offices and meeting rooms on the upper floors. To the north and south, terraces are located in front of the meeting rooms, which are also open to the public on weekends thanks to outside staircases. While the former factory also contains rental units, between the old and new buildings is a bright full-height atrium that forms the heart of the centre and around which the rental units and communal areas are grouped. The windows of the factory facing the atrium were removed in order to open the core zone created by the extension towards the new building. At the same time, the cooling effect of the old building substance benefits the entire building in summer, while solar heat gain in the atrium benefits the old building in winter. The design of the façade for the new extension aligns with the old factory, permitting views from the depths of the building through the atrium and new extension to the outside.

Links have also been created between the different levels: in the interior the leading edges of the corridors step back successively on each floor to provide clear visual and auditory connections. Similarly, the gables of the meeting rooms on the roof echo the sawtooth façade of the lower floors. The rooms on the ground floor are intended for public use and include a kindergarten and a communal kitchen as a means of making the Social Justice Centre a part of its local neighbourhood.

Originally published in Bauwelt 35.2015, pp. 24-31, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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