The Fitzrovia

Back in 2019, we won a limited competition organised by CO-RE, on behalf of building owners M&G, to come up with proposals for a significant new mixed use development on Tottenham Court Road. From the outset, we felt that this was a project that was all about understanding and reinforcing its urban context.

Tottenham Court Road was once one of London's grander Streets. In the 19^th and early 20^th centuries the southern end, where the Fitzrovia sits, was characterised by theatres, shops and even a brewery. Remnants of this scale still stand near Oxford Street, but much was lost the further north you went, and this was not a result of the Blitz, but rather like Victoria Street, post war redevelopment. 

Traditionally, Tottenham Court Road was well known for its furniture retailers, such as Maples and Heals.  In my student days the street was populated with an abundance of independent camera shops and hi fi shops such as Laskys. In recent years Apple and Spotify have wiped out all but the specialists in that world and Tottenham Court Road has, like Heals, adapted and become home to various contemporary furniture retailers. The Elizabeth line, and Camden Council’s progressive traffic management scheme in the area represent the next phase in its textured history, and The Fitzrovia is at the forefront of that. 

The site sits firmly in the rebuilt section of the street, where it merges into the rather more elegant Edwardian buildings to the north and at the entrance to London’s most complete Georgian set piece, Bedford Square. 

From the outset we sought to find an architectural language that would reference the neighbouring older buildings whilst adopting the scale of the newer post war structures to the south and west. In essence we recognised that the façade was the element that could mediate and repair the block, and at the same time give the Fitzrovia a unique and memorable personality.

For this reason, the façade has to work very hard, it needs to do deal with three distinct uses, to mediate the change of scale between Tottenham Court Road and the rear of the Bedford Square buildings, and it needed to restore a sense of life and sparkle to this important street.

For the principal elevations we chose to work with glazed terra cotta panels sculpted into a three-dimensional scalloped form which referenced the Edwardian bays and dormered roof line to the north, whilst sitting firmly in a grid that satisfies the retail office and residential functions behind.

We developed a colour that was inspired by Chinese and Korean Celadon-ware, a subtle sage green/grey that is gloss glazed so that it sparkles in sunlight and changes tone and hue with the seasons and daylight quality. It is an organic response to an urban problem, its complexity echoing the architecture of a past age that has a human scale and visual interest.

Sustainability was necessarily at the heart of this project. Whilst we had to demolish a complex of poor quality and redundant 1960’s structures, we retained the basement and introduced a new low embodied carbon structure that at the end of its usefulness can be disassembled and re purposed. It is a BREEAM Outstanding project that is net zero in use, but for us sustainability goes beyond accreditation. This project is also about sustaining the city, it is a proper mixed use building, as well as workplace it has retail, a coffee shop and 8 residential units, this depth of programme will help to sustain the richness and complexity of the public realm that gives the city life.

This building was designed during the Covid years which resulted in a reappraisal of what a workplace needs to offer its users. As well as abundant external terraces, high quality end of trip facilities, workspace needs volume and daylight. We maximised the floor to ceiling heights, designed an elevation that has good full height fenestration to all sides and employed a ventilation system that ensures healthy quantities of fresh air.

It is now complete, and will soon be home to retailers, office users and city dwellers, we hope that with this building the next chapter in this street’s vibrant history has begun.