In refurbishing rather than rebuilding, this design has enhanced the heritage of this West End location, restored an important Oxford Street elevation, greatly reduced the embodied energy of the scheme, enabled a continuous retail offer at street level throughout the build and created a finished product that is immediately at home in its surroundings.
Responding to the client’s brief, Darling Associates have created a powerful new presence on Wardour Street by introducing a dramatic vertical frame of bronze that evokes the form of the original façade whilst announcing Ampersand’s new refined design identity. With this project the team saw an opportunity to breathe new life into an existing building, retaining the primary fabric and historic façade, exposing its innate qualities and applying a new envelope fit for the expectations of the sustainable future of commercial office provision in this progressive area of the city.
Client Resolution Property
Contractor McLaren
Date 2010 – 2015
Sector Mixed Use
Size 64,500 sq ft
DA Team
Chris Darling
Damion Burrows
Tibor Szakaly
Akos Sofalvi
Rupert Calvert
2015 – AJ Retrofit (Shortlisted)
2015 – NLA (Shortlisted)
2016 – BCO Awards (Shortlisted)