As a collegiate gatehouse-and-staircase solution, the Morelands interventions stitch together a convoluted tangle of disparate warehouse blocks, alleys and entrances into a new home for a variety of creative industries. Originally constructed in stages between 1905 and 1940, Morelands’ first occupants were rag-trade watchmakers, engravers and printers, each requiring individual access for constant delivery and dispatch. To clarify entry, access and identity, the entire complex is reorganised around a single, main entrance. To maintain the industrial character and essential grain of the existing buildings, all original staircases are kept and the extant urban patina – that of raw brick and stone, large metal windows and steel lift shafts – is refreshed. Into this palette of surfaces and materials others are woven in, such as the pressed metal panels of the lift towers and the packing case, stencil-style graphics that help identify each individual five-storey block. The result is a constantly evolving enclave of contemporary office space and ground-floor retail that has been home to AHMM since 1995.

1999
Location
Clerkenwell, London
Cost
£3.5 Million
Client
Derwent London plc
 
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AHMM at London Festival of Architecture 08.06.22

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