Bureau de Change Designs Art Deco Interiors of The Gaslight in London.

The Gaslight in London’s Fitzrovia is a new mixed-use commercial development within the shell of a handsome Art Deco building. The project weaves true craftsmanship, a mastery of materials, into the fabric of the building using contemporary design and techniques.

Originally built in 1929 for the Gas, Coke and Light Company, this robust industrial building has been reorganised and extended by London-based architecture practice de Metz Forbes Knight (dMFK), producing a series of light-filled, spaces inspired by artist studios. Bureau de Change worked on embedding a timeless aesthetic within the interior volumes, responding to the building’s heritage with bespoke materials, patterns and geometries that add an innovative, crafted character – bringing the element of the unexpected to modern commercial development.

When the building’s owner set out to reinvent this utilitarian structure, they wanted to amplify the interiors and develop a radical approach to high-quality commercial space. The result is a design that reflects the specific character of the area, once alive with artisanal workshops.

Bureau de Change took The Gaslight’s Art Deco style and the area’s rich heritage of craftsmanship as a starting point to create a cohesive visual narrative that runs throughout the building – from the hand-turned wooden door handles in the entrance to the creation of a mezzanine level in the top floor, which appears to float in the volume of the space.

The centrepiece of the scheme is an innovative sculptural intervention in the new circulation core, that connects the four floors of offices. They created two layers of bespoke bronze-coloured mesh, which sit in front of each other generating a moiré effect that obscures the concrete core. The intricate pattern reflects the stylistic history of the building using contemporary fabrication techniques. Underneath the suspended stairs, which wrap around the core at ground floor, the top layer of pleated mesh peels away from the one behind that continues to run through the building. This interplay between the layers creates an illusion that the steps are formed from the intricate filigree metal and enhances the sculptural quality of the work. With this intervention, Bureau de Change convey a sense of hand-craftsmanship, while using industrial materials and fabrication.

This attention to detail continues through other internal spaces. The bathrooms use a bespoke terrazzo panelling formed as a contemporary echo of the traditional timber panelling that might have been found in the original building. Wayfinding elements feature extruded bronze signs in a distinctive ribbon font, while the numbers for the building entrance are shaped into the metal railings on the restored wooden gates. Even the timber handles on the external entrance doors have been designed in three dimensions and turned on a lathe to provide an unexpected tactile quality that imbues a sense of craftsmanship in the visitor’s experience.

See more project by Bureau de Change on Yellowtrace.

[Images courtesy of Bureau de Change. Photography by Gilbert McCarragher.]