Technique is a landmark new office space, conjured and crafted from two historic buildings in the heart of Clerkenwell, one of London’s most vital and creative neighbourhoods.
This project will become a touchstone for the area’s development – respecting its past and enhancing its future.
Given the high sustainability standards of the project, the architects of Buckley Gray Yeoman started searching for sustainable options.
Having seen FRONT®’s (formerly StoneCycling) project for COS they reached out and came over for a visit in the summer of 2019.
Technique
The enthusiasm for the possibilities with our WasteBasedBricks® led to a confirmed collaboration between FRONT®, Buckley Gray Yeoman, General Projects and Graham in the spring of 2020.
The Amsterdam-based Italian creative studio Formafantasma re-conceptualised the traditional office lobby, introducing radical ideas and repurposed materials.
The fully refurbished development of Technique offers 74,000 square feet of modern workspace and retail, over six stories with high ceilings and generous open volumes, to accommodate more than 850 people, as well as 5,000 square feet of affordable office space dedicated to small businesses.
Laser House, the existing building at 132 Goswell Road, was built in the 1960s to replace a gin distillery, one of the many clustered in Clerkenwell. The corner plot enclosed by the new building was occupied by a public house.
The project began with the reinvention of the two historic buildings, seamlessly stitching them together, with a new ‘infill’ building establishing a dynamic new architectural language.
The frontage on Goswell Road has been dramatised by a new infill that forms the heart of the project.
With the Mushroom WasteBasedBrick® we used for the COS project as a reference, we started working with the architects of BGY towards a nuance in colour they would like to see in this part of the building.
This resulted in changing the recipe and production method of the Mushroom slightly to allow for a larger variation in grey tones.
Radical in design and use of materials, General Projects sets a new benchmark for sustainability and defines a new model for workspaces built on respect and responsibility with Technique.
To go against the waste of energy and resources involved in tearing down existing buildings, the project set out to be centred around adaptive reuse and sustainability.
Three entirely new floors have been built using super-performing glue and cross-laminated timber structural components, sourced from sustainably managed forests, resulting in a 43% reduction in carbon emissions.
Structural elements of the CLT addition have been pre-fabricated off-site and assembled on-site, cutting site traffic by 70%.
Technique will be topped with 10,000 square feet of green roof, increasing local biodiversity and reducing the heat island effect.
A new sunken courtyard brings natural light down to a flexible commercial unit of 6,350 square feet on the ground and lower-ground floors.
The building is set to achieve a BREEAM Excellent sustainability rating, a rare achievement for a refurbished building.
Seeking to only use the most innovative and sustainable materials for Technique, collaborating with StoneCycling was a no-brainer. Our new striking lobby building will be clad with the beautiful hand-made bricks made from 21 tonnes of recycled waste material.
Our ambition for Technique has always been to push the boundaries and create something special. The striking new architectural infill building will hopefully become a new local gem that will not only house the building’s new entrance, but events and exhibitions too. Elsewhere the existing building will be reinvented and extended to create cutting edge workspaces for the creative industries.
Due to a unique firing process, the Mushroom is made up of multiple shades of grey.
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