The Foundry

Solution

On busy Fulham Palace Road in Hammersmith, London, this office campus involved the conversion of an out-dated office building on the roadside, and the creation of a new-build office behind, combining to create 13,000sq m of Cat A workspace.

Salient planning issues included the location of food and drink outlets and their opening times, the closeness to terraced housing in surrounding streets and ensuring that the scale and appearance of the proposals matched the setting. Unique to the proposals at the Foundry and Smith’s Square was the creation of a public artwork by Alex Chinneck, called Six Pins & Half a Dozen Needles: a trompe l’oeil sculpture appearing as if the red brick façade had been ripped like paper. A reference to the publishing history on this site, its visual impact was considered in the light of its compatibility with the rest of the scheme. The practice’s planning team were drafted in to make the case for this startling piece of public art, reassuring the planning authority of the benefits such iconic but playful features can bring to an area. The scheme was completed in September 2017.