Guardian News & Media

Solution

Guardian Newspaper Ltd’s move from Farringdon to new-build Kings Place in King’s Cross became a talking point in the publishing industry. As print was undergoing epochal changes, it was an opportunity to see how the new newspaper office might express itself, and tp bennett fitted out the Dixon Jones building in anticipation of the emerging digital landscape.

As well as expressing the strong brand values of the Guardian – honesty, integrity, openness, trust and transparency – the resulting offices embodied a commitment to collaborative and open working systems engendered by digital culture. Editing booths and recording studios were included, and the sharing of knowledge and ideas encouraged in open-plan offices across three floors.

At the entrance, a gallery space enabled public access, illustrating the Guardian’s sense of duty to the community, and the reception area was kept open with sightlines into the offices. “This aspect was quite unusual as companies didn’t usually let visitors see into the business,” says Shane Kelly, tp bennett’s designer on the project.

With a canal-side location, views and daylight were maximised and each office floor arranged with a central social hub around a central atrium with a feature staircase. Décor-wise, high-quality timber and stone were used, and a colour scheme that referenced the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and key or black) elements of colour printing. Textiles with letter-block design further provided a visual link to the brand’s heritage, drawing a powerful continuum between the print past and the digital future.