Dominic McKenzie Architects have completed the new London HQ for the management team behind some of the biggest names in the music world.  The company has recently experienced rapid growth leading to the expansion of their London offices and the opening of a new office in LA.

The London offices are located in a large early-noughties mixed-use building comprising two storey ground floor commercial/ industrial spaces with residential flats above. All the commercial and residential units throughout the existing building were originally fitted out to an industrial level with exposed concrete frame and slabs, blockwork walls, galvanised steel fittings and exposed drainage runs.

Through the purchase of the next door commercial unit, the company was able to more than double its floor area. 

The new design creates a large single open-plan space at ground floor with 30 desk spaces. The next door unit’s double height space was retained to form a dramatic centre to the new office. To the rear of the ground floor is a storage area, a toilet and a dark space with a daybed and shower. The mezzanine level contains a kitchen and dining space to the right and two meeting rooms, plus privacy work rooms and toilets to the left.  A route between the two glass enclosed meeting rooms ends in a balcony overlooking main double height space.

The designs for the new office build on the industrial feel of the existing building. Plasterboard linings from previous refurbishments were removed in the 2 spaces to reveal the original blockwork party walls which were painted with a pale grey paint. New dark steel framed glazing was inserted to divide the upper floor spaces into meeting rooms and kitchen. The existing steel staircases and balustrades were retained, adapted to fit with the glazed partitions and painted to match the glazing. New surface-mounted galvanised steel conduits are used to run cabling.

Against these more industrial elements, white-oiled oak was specified for floors and joinery to soften and add warmth to the space. The oak floor ‘turns up’ to the rear of the ground floor space to line the wall between main office and back rooms. Five large bespoke communal tables, designed by Dominic McKenzie Architects, are also in matching oak with dark steel legs and integrated cable ports and trays. Brass details in light fixtures, door handles and furniture add more luxurious elements to the design as a counterpoint to the wider industrial feel.