Victoria Park House, Hackney, London
Celebrating 'As Found'
As part of the Interior Educators Conference 2024 we wrote a case study on our project at Sustainable Workspaces in County Hall. The paper is called 'Celebrating 'As Found'' and explores a light-touch approach to existing buildings which is adopted within our practice and was used on this project.
Sustainable Workspaces at County Hall is home to a community of emerging climate technology businesses set within a historic central London landmark building. To occupy over 3,600sqm of floor space on the fifth floor, Sustainable Workspaces undertook interior fit-out works which included retaining and repairing the existing building fabric followed by strategic new installations to create private and open workspace, event spaces, innovation labs, cafes and breakout space. This case study will explore and justify the design strategy for the works in the context of the client and building alongside appreciation for its history, ‘as found’ condition and layers of previous adaptations.
Sustainable Workspaces C.I.C (SW) is a subsidiary company of Sustainable Ventures Ltd. (SV). SV is a ‘full service ecosystem’ providing climate tech start-ups with investment to be able to scale up through ‘community, investment, innovation and workspace’ (Sustainable Ventures). Businesses of different industries work in close quarters all with the same goal - improving the way society operates resulting fostering collaboration and community. Long range electric vehicle tyres, aerogel insulating plaster and waterless flush toilets have all been supported from concept through to commercial product, with SV securing over £110m of funding through 6 investment rounds (Sustainable Ventures, 2024).
SW’s first workspace in 2017 sat within an old warehouse where any works done to the space before occupation were done for necessity through ad-hoc improvements and a ‘self build’ mindset. Due to the nature of the business, many uses needed to be accommodated within the space requiring a level of adaptability. The focus was on providing a loose and comfortable space for creativity and collaboration and deliberately eschewed conventional corporate notions of what a workplace should be.
Client
Figure 1 - Members’ board on display in SW’s previous home on the third floor.
County Hall is a Grade II* listed building located next to the Thames. The Edwardian Baroque style building was designed by Ralph Knott in 1911 through a competition to replace a variety of 19th century warehouses and mills with a new home for the London County Council (County Hall Arts, 2024). Erected over a period of 28 years, the building hosts Portland stone facades, a masonry structure as well as a steep mansard roof and steel additions to the courtyard spaces from the 1970s (Historic England, 2024, para. 2).
The building was given Grade II* Listed status by Historic England in 1951, referring predominantly to its external features. During the embattled 1980s, then-Mayor of London Ken Livingstone would use the facade of County Hall to display slogans as a visible challenge to Margaret Thatcher’s rule across the river within the Houses of Parliament (Wolmar, 1997, para. 3). Thatcher eventually abolished the Greater London Council in 1986, after which there was a swift removal of any trace of occupation.
In 2021 having outgrown their previous location the client acquired 3,600 sqm on the fifth floor of County Hall. The existing space had been untouched since the GLC vacated in the 1980s, providing a unique backdrop for the proposals. The space had seen partition walls erected and demolished throughout its lifespan, carpet tiles glued down and ripped up and original glazed bricks covered over with cement and cheap tiling. In the late 1970s a full six-storey extension had been added within the courtyard that brutally removed a large portion of original facade stone masonry.
When the Greater London Council left the building in 1986, the fifth floor was completely stripped of its internal fittings and left empty. The fabric of the building was therefore scarred and damaged - fifty years of fit out and demolition combined with forty years of dereliction left the interior to crumble and the original character of the fifth floor severely damaged. All that had occupied the space from 1986 until the client’s lease began in 2022 were pigeons and the River Thames' moist air which entered through broken windows and the aging and neglected building fabric.
Host building
Figure 2 - Ken Livingstone (left) and colleagues outside County Hall in 1982 when it was the GLC’s headquarters.
Figure 3 - Site photo of the space ‘as found’ in 2021.
After a limited competition, Material Works Architecture (MWA) were appointed by Sustainable Workspaces in August 2021 following a pitch that focused on their experience of light touch interventions within existing buildings and resulting low-carbon design approach. MWA’s design ethos has developed from a growing frustration with typical design and procurement routes that fail to address the challenges of the climate emergency. The approach is focused not just on quantitative performance of buildings, such as operational energy, but qualitative aspects involved with establishing a new design aesthetic focused on sustainable materials, circular construction methods and user wellbeing. Environmental imperatives suggest that a radical approach is required, where fundamental aesthetic and performance expectations can be challenged and design decisions freed from the expectations of how an ‘office’ should look or function.
This ambition married well with Sustainable Ventures’ experience of self-build office fit-outs within their previous homes, as well as the existing condition of County Hall which was free from any trappings of conventional office design. The design route quickly pursued a low intervention approach based on the use of minimal resource. This would have the combined benefits of minimising carbon and monetary costs, providing a demonstrator for sustainable materials and techniques and allowing for a meaningful reading of the existing building’s history and material expression. The project budget was sourced almost entirely from grant funding meaning it would need to be carefully allocated to streamline spending.
Practice
Figure 5 - Material Works Architecture in studio.
In 1917, Marcel Duchamp submitted a piece of artwork in the form of a urinal laid on its back with the ‘artist’ R.MUTT’s tag on the side to the Society of Independent Artists, of which Duchamp himself was on the board. A number of members of the society deemed the object/artwork indecent stating it was, ‘by no definition, a work of art’ (Naumann, 2012, p. 72). It was excluded from the exhibition much to the dismay of Duchamp who resigned from the board in protest of the censorship of an artist’s work (Howarth, 2000, para. 2). A supporter of ‘Richard Mutt’ asserted ‘its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view’ creating ‘a new thought for that object’ (Howarth, 2000, para. 6). The repurposing of an overlooked everyday commodity as something to be appreciated and admired re-conceptualises what is deemed valuable or beautiful.
The concept of celebrating the ‘as found’ was further explored by the Independent Group (IG) (including architects Alison and Peter Smithson) during the 1950s, a time tainted with post-war collective sorrow and necessity but with undertones of optimism. The group created artworks in celebration of objects as they are found, in their given condition. By revealing the material quality of things, the IG wanted viewers to scrutinise an object’s function, structure and materiality. This centralises the construction of objects we use everyday which might otherwise slip into the sub-conscious of consumers, and their impact and legacy forgotten, if not blatantly available.
These ordinary objects differ to a building in the sense that its physicality is less of a representation of its history but reminder of its presence. The concept of celebrating the ‘as found’ can assist with designing within a building by pushing for acknowledgement of its enduring richness and condition, with reduced inclination to disregard or waste what could be celebrated and utilised.
Within architecture, architects use an increasingly restrained and limited approach when intervening with historic buildings. De Caigny, Ertas and Plevoets (2024) explored a series of seven experimental projects in Europe, arguing ‘buildings are material relics that bear silent witness to the past’ which carry the ‘collective memory’ of several generations of users. The exposure of layers of demolition and damage alongside more recent additions results in the carcass of the building left exposed and the ‘collective memories’ of each occupier visually available. Focusing on the existing condition of a building leaves it exposed for interpretation and interaction, largely as it was found.
De Caigny, Ertas and Plevoets (2024) examined the Mechelen Library in Belgium by Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten, which utilises a design strategy which acknowledges years of dereliction and historic significance through the layers of peeling plaster and paintwork. The proposals utilise the space at human level for new interventions, offering an immediate tactile orderliness in contrast to the existing building’s vaulted, exposed, largely unaltered ceiling overhead.
Celebrating 'As Found'
Figure 6 - The concept of ‘as found’ objects being art and their value being acknowledged through celebration of the existing and installed finishes and fittings at County Hall and Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’.
Figures 7 and 8 - Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten’s completed work at Public Library Mechelen.
When SW took up a portion of the fifth floor at County Hall, the space was unkempt and in a state of disrepair. The physical manifestation of the building’s history is read through its scars, such as chases where services had been forcibly removed leaving structural masonry exposed - in some cases containing remnants of original services. Elsewhere, historic partition and ceiling lines are marked into flooring and walls with clear breaks in the original parquet flooring and deep wounds into the walls. The parquet flooring was either coated in carpet glue or excessively worn along former corridors. An array of paint finishes and wallpaper were visible on walls where rooms previously divided the space, and in some areas the top layer had peeled away to reveal different shades below. Windows had broken panes and missing ironmongery which was removed by building management for fear of theft then entirely lost in the forty years since occupation of the fifth floor.
Further physical manifestation of the layers of adaptations of different users is most apparent where the existing facade line remains and steel additions from the 1970s abruptly fix into the original masonry roof structure. Incongruous additions to the building represent the oversight of historic buildings and architectural heritage at that time which is now part of the history of County Hall.
MWA and the client reached an early conclusion to preserve the existing rather than a full restoration, working within the constraints of the building instead of creating a blank canvas. This aligned with the client’s self-build approach to previously occupied neglected buildings which embraced ‘as found’ finishes and would ensure the collective memory of County Hall’s previous occupiers was acknowledged and celebrated. The features within the existing fabric form a rich palimpsest of the building’s stories, revealing both its construction and phases of occupation - a story that would be lost with a more conventional restoration approach. This also aligned with the client’s conclusions from previous projects that a more relaxed attitude to level of finish would foster a more collaborative and creative workspace for growth more than a static, clean aesthetic representing corporate stability. Furthermore, the approach would present a clear reading of the building’s physical materiality and its unique history, providing a richer cultural experience for users.
County Hall 'As Found'
Figure 9 - Site Photo of existing mansard roof wall showing layers of demolition, partition wall lines in the underside of existing beams, damaged and dirty parquet flooring and missing skirting.
Figure 10 -Site Photo of historic mansard roof wall with steel additions of the 1970s.
The spaces’ emptiness for the previous forty years presented issues when considering the refurbishment’s required first steps. Before any works could begin, pigeon faecal matter littering the site needed to be removed to avoid ingestion and an asbestos survey was essential based on the age of the building and its adaptations.
Once any biohazards were removed, an extensive repair strategy was prepared alongside a plan which located each defective area and quantified the works required. The health and safety of occupants was weighed against the works that would be required to fulfil the client’s aspirations. Each item was an opportunity to set a precedent for the wider works - often very little was done except to protect the existing from aging and bring the space into usability. For example, plaster underwent a tap test to remove loose areas and resulting holes in walls and ceilings were infilled if over a certain depth and width. Missing skirting was reinstated, windows repaired as necessary and chases sealed and left exposed. The parquet flooring was scrubbed down and a low-VOC lacquer re-applied to ensure longevity. Graphene paint was used to re-coat skirting boards, picture rails and new walls - emitting over a tonne of carbon less than if the same quantity of industry standard paint were used.
Where repairs required new material be used, their impact was carefully considered. Breathable lime plaster was used to infill large holes and repair the ceiling - protecting the existing masonry construction from mould and damp damage. Recovery of the existing fabric encourages its preservation without impeding the building’s narrative.
Repairs
Figure 11 - Site Photo of chase which previously housed services.
Figure 12 - Finished chase with LED light fitting installed.
Demolition was limited to minor alterations critical to use. Wherever possible existing fittings and finishes were retained either in situ or re-used elsewhere on site. Existing walls were left in place, however the previous demolition works had left the space largely open. Waste was therefore kept to a minimum.
Celebrating the ‘as-found’ allows users to read the impact of short-term commercial fit-outs and years of dereliction through the existing fabric’s condition. The final finish is a celebration of the ‘as found’ character rather than a uniform appearance created by plastering over the existing in its entirety or replacing old for new. Rejuvenating the existing fabric and keeping any further destructive works to a minimum helped to achieve this. This contradicts the industry ‘norm’ of what is deemed ‘finished' in commercial workspace fit-outs by treating walls and flooring only as absolutely necessary to make the space usable. Aesthetic uniformity became subsidiary to minimising the addition of material resources and associated carbon, as well as reduced spending. At this point during the project, the question of whether it was ‘finished enough’ arose - a site review was conducted with the client to determine any works which were expected to be completed.
Demolition
Figure 13 - Kitchen area at County Hall, demonstrating the finished wall condition at completion.
The creation of a successful community is reliant on the provision of spaces that encourage an array of working styles along with interactions at a variety of scales and characters. As well as bringing the existing fabric up to functionality, the brief required the creation of varying meeting rooms, event spaces, cafe/bar, kitchen, private offices, informal work and break-out spaces. To do this, new interventions would be required, guided by the principles of respecting the existing fabric, minimising impact and of stewardship rather than adaptation.
Once the base condition was nurtured back to health, the client and MWA had the ambition to use the remaining works to showcase and demonstrate innovative sustainable materials and construction methods, including collaboration with organisations working on products and techniques which minimise embodied carbon consumption. Three guiding principles led this approach:
Meeting the Brief
Necessity
The requirements of the brief guided the approach to new interventions and the ‘necessity’ of any works proposed was carefully reviewed. What could be done to enable flexibility of each space and adaptability for proposed and possible future uses? How could the existing and the proposed be juxtaposed coherently?
The intention was therefore to construct in a way that would compliment the building and return functionality to its existing features. For example, historic window openings have been celebrated within the proposals and now house shutters which create flexibility between the event space and neighbouring breakout area, increasing connection between spaces when needed. As shown previously, chases became home to energy efficient LED light fittings which illuminate the exposed masonry, allow for modern reinterpretation of the existing and celebrate the ‘as found’ condition.
Figure 14 - Existing facade line with 1970s steel additions.
Figure 15 - Existing facade line with new insertions.
Demountable Components
To limit further negative impact on the existing building once SW’s tenancy ends, demountable modular components were constructed with simple fixings to allow easy re-assembly or disassembly to base materials. All seating was designed into set length modules which are mechanically fixed together to create longer lengths of seating and can be taken apart and reconfigured if needed. In collaboration with U-Build, plywood modular partition walls were constructed around private offices and meeting rooms, with a system of standardised modules in line with typical plywood sheet sizes to reduce wastage and increase flexibility during the client’s occupation of the site. A large portion of these modules were reused from the client’s previous home on the third floor. New installations are designed to neatly abut or carefully connect to the existing fabric. The materials express their ephemeral or temporary nature through exposed fixings and raw finishes, offering a stewardship and encouragement of the existing next to it rather than reinvention by serving as a reminder of the permanence of County Hall’s fabric.
Figure 16 - U-Build modular partition walls.
Waste as Material
Further to harnessing the value of the existing building, there is further possibility to re-capture value of materials considered as waste from the local urban landscape through ‘urban mining’. At County Hall this meant construction rubble made into terrazzo, beetroot and orange peel waste made into front-facing construction boards or waste paper coffee cups made into 3D printed lampshades. Ecoboard formed the carcassing of all joinery which is made from agricultural waste and is a carbon negative alternative to materials such as MDF or OSB. Similarly, second-hand items such as doors, light fittings, sanitary ware and worktops were sourced through salvage yards and second hand websites - light fittings from an industrial factory in Yugoslavia now hang over breakout tables and cisterns from the old Lord’s cricket ground are fitted in toilets. Carbon sequestering plants such as mycelium were also used in the form of acoustic baffles hung from the ceiling, grown in a factory nearby in Bermondsey.
By diverting materials from landfill, the carbon emitted through processing a new resource is re-directed and reduced and its innate environmental value saved. The financial benefit of this is creating value in materials which many would consider waste or of little value and challenges this perception, similarly to Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’. The materiality of what was added to the site was deliberately different to the historic to compliment rather than contradict or copy and acknowledge emerging material innovators helping to reduce the amount of carbon associated with construction. Further acknowledgement is provided through signage throughout the space at users’ eye level to retain consciousness of material choice in the direct context of the existing fabric.
Figure 18 - Kitchen island made from reclaimed worktops and corrugated metal with lampshades made from waste coffee cups.
Questioning the expectations of what constitutes a finished surface allowed for a large reduction in the materials required and consequent embodied energy in comparison to a typical office fit-out. The project challenges the notion that significant works are required when dealing with historic or aging buildings and the idea of a ‘finished’ surface in construction projects. In addition, the design is a test ground for innovative materials and techniques that show an alternative path for workspace retrofit. This points towards a new aesthetic and material language reflecting the demands of the climate emergency.
The client intends to occupy the space for at least the next twenty five years however there is an expectation to take away the installations and leave the ‘as found’ in the same condition it was found. The incoming tenant can then interpret the existing fabric and its associated history, as was done by Sustainable Workspaces and MWA. The question of how County Hall tenants should deal with its memory is left open for interpretation, instead beginning with a full page, rather than a blank one (De Caigny et al, 2024, para. 7).
Conclusion
Figure 19 - Construction waste terrazzo worktops, fruit peel board, mycelium acoustic baffles.
Brookes, E. (2021) Memorability as Image: The contested aesthetic politics of Robin Hood Gardens. PhD Thesis Cultural Geography. Royal Holloway.
Carvel, J. (1985) Top Tory to wind up Greater London Council affairs – archive, 1985. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/20/top-tory-to-wind-up-greater-london-council-affairs-archive-1985 [accessed 4th September 2024].
County Hall Arts (no date) History. Available at: https://www.countyhallarts.com/history [last accessed 2nd September 2024].
Daley, A. (no date) A Reappropriation of As Found. Available at: https://www.andrewdaley.co/A-Reappropriation-of-As-Found [last accessed 27th August 2024].
De Caigny, S, Ertas, H and Plevoets, B. (2024) As Found: Experiments in Preservation (Exhibitions International). Available at: https://www.buildingonthebuilt.org/as-found-extract [accessed 5th September 2024].
Historic England (no date), Main Block of County Hall. Available at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1358192?section=official-list-entry [accessed 5th September 2024].
Howarth, S. (2000) Fountain, 1917, replica 1964, Marcel Duchamp. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/duchamp-fountain-t07573 [accessed 10th September 2024].
Naumann, F. M. (2012) ‘Fountain’, in The Recurrent, Haunting Ghost: Essays on the Art, Life and Legacy of Marcel Duchamp, New York: Readymade Press, pp.70–81.
Sustainable Ventures (no date). Available at: https://www.sustainableventures.co.uk/ [accessed 4th September 2024].
Van den Heuvel, D. (2002) ‘As Found: The Metamorphosis of the Everyday. On the Work of Nigel Henderson, Eduardo Paolozzi, and Alison and Peter Smithson (1953-1956)’. Oase Journal 59, pp. 52-67.
Wolmer, C. (1997) Japanese offer County Hall as seat of London government. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/japanese-offer-county-hall-as-seat-of-london-government-1263136.html [accessed 26th August 2024].
Bibliography/References
1. Sustainable Ventures
2. Stephens, M. (1982)
3. Medway and Law
6. Author’s own diagram, using site photos and inspired by Daley, A. (No date) A Reappropration of As Found.
-
Top left image: Mongers Architectural Salvage (2022) Shanks High Level Cistern. Available at: https://www.mongersofhingham.co.uk/products/shanks-high-level-cistern-1 [accessed 5th September 2024].
-
Top middle image: Messy Messy Chic (2018) London Loos to Luxury Living: Before & After. Available at: https://www.messynessychic.com/2013/07/23/london-loos-to-luxury-living-before-after/ [accessed 5th September 2024].
-
Top right image: Bradley, L. (2011) Dirt – The Filthy Reality of Everyday Life. Available at: https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/1012/dirt-the-filthy-reality-of-everyday-life [accessed 5th September 2024].
-
Bottom left image: Dazeley, P. (2012) The Gentlemen's Toilets, Lords Cricket Ground [Photograph]. Available at: https://www.gettyimages.in/detail/news-photo/victorian-mens-urinals-lords-cricket-ground-on-october-30-news-photo/1395542572?adppopup=true [accessed 5th September 2024].
-
Bottom right image: Howarth, F. (2023)
7 and 8. Kramer, L. (2013)
12, 13, 15, 16, 18 and 19. Howarth, F. (2023)
All other photos are Material Works
Figures