Sand-coloured partitions, hieroglyph motifs and a trapezoidal rooftop extension rejoice the Egyptian revival type of this Grade II-listed boiler home in Kent, remodeled into an workplace by native studio Felix Lewis Architects.
Now named The Works, the previous boiler home overlooks the River Medway in East Farleigh. It was in-built 1860 by architect James Pilbrow and represents a uncommon instance of Egyptian revival structure in Britain.
Felix Lewis Architects transformed the construction right into a headquarters for hi-fi firm Chord Electronics, retaining its unique character whereas overhauling its interiors with sand-toned partitions and glazed partitions emblazoned with hieroglyphs.
On the roof of The Works, a coaching house is housed in an extension that continues the brick boiler home’s trapezoidal kind, clad in rusty Corten metal in reference to the location’s former industrial objective.
“A key ambition was for the extension to stay subservient to the unique listed construction, responding to each planning and heritage necessities,” studio director Felix Lewis advised Dezeen.
“Egyptian Revival structure was traditionally used to precise concepts of timelessness and eternity – usually in memorials and tombs – and the intention right here was to create one thing equally timeless, with a barely anachronistic high quality,” he added.
“Tough industrial supplies have been used to reference the location’s industrial previous, with the rusted tones of the Corten metal serving to the constructing sit comfortably throughout the greens and browns of its semi-rural setting.”
The areas of The Works have been distributed throughout three flooring. A gathering room and the CEO’s workplace sit on the bottom flooring, that includes giant home windows overlooking the riverfront that may be accessed by way of two exterior black metal staircases.
With a view to make the bottom flooring extra flood resilient, it has been tanked and lined internally with a datum of terrazzo tiling, with the constructing’s companies additionally raised above potential flood ranges.
A timber-and-steel stair housed inside a glazed quantity leads as much as additional workspaces on the primary flooring. On each this stage and the bottom flooring, loos have been housed throughout the chunky quantity of the boiler home’s former chimney.
On the highest flooring, the extension homes a big coaching house, which opens out onto a balcony created by stepping the extension again from the perimeter of the prevailing constructing’s roof.
Whereas the balcony-facing facet is absolutely glazed, the lengthy sides of this extension have been left clean to create what Lewis described as a “sense of monumentality”, with a single central window referencing the central opening in an Egyptian pylon or gateway.
Different conversions of former industrial workspaces into workplaces embody 469 Bethnal Inexperienced Street in London by Carmody Groarke, which noticed a former textile workshop expanded with a rooftop extension clad in galvanised metal, and Greencoat Place, which Squire and Companions created inside a Nineteenth-century warehouse with ornate cast-iron columns.
The pictures is by Chris Snook.
