Clockwise Wood Green at Greenside House offers locals a workspace to rent near their home – particularly apt for those now working from home who don’t have enough space to establish a proper work area

One positive outcome of the pandemic is how we have reengaged with our local neighbourhoods. We now travel less, buy our groceries locally, and talk more frequently and readily to our neighbours – and all signs indicate that this is likely to stay in the future.

Clockwise Wood Green at Greenside House offers locals a place to rent a workspace near their home – particularly apt for those now working from home who don’t have enough space to establish a proper work area.

Located near Alexandra Park and other green areas, the site felt disconnected from its immediate context, and its artificial and hard materials – originally from the 1980s – made it defensive and unwelcoming. Inspired by the surrounding area, Hawkins\Brown proposed an indoor green route – starting from the entrance, running through a full-height atrium and ending in a roof terrace – to visually reconnect the building to Alexandra Park. The route also establishes pockets of green space that work as backdrops for activities, and which encourage people to interact and socialise.

Our work focused on developing small adjustments to the site rather than whole scale replacement, retaining what was good about the building while adding a new layer of history, as well as reducing carbon emissions and improving wellbeing. The building was stripped back to its steel and concrete frame, and elements loosely inspired by 1980s Post Modernism – geometric shapes, a light-hearted and natural colour palette – were introduced to reference those who originally inhabited the building, and to provide a fresh and domestic feel.

Wood Green has traditionally been home to makers and creators, so we have provided local artists with spaces to create site-specific art, and a place to exhibit their work in the ground floor café, which doubles as an impromptu exhibition space for artists and visitors to mingle with tenants.

Massimo Tepedino
Partner
Hawkins\Brown

The key challenge was how to create a workplace that supports hybrid working and wellbeing, while also providing long-term flexibility. We found that, in an era with no defining aesthetic, people seem to have a renewed interest in provenance – we want to know where things come from, who made them and how they were put together. We therefore decided to strip out what wasn’t necessary and expose and celebrate the construction elements, allowing people to reconnect with the craft of making buildings. We called it a ‘whole grain’ aesthetic – using materials that textured, unfinished and reveal their ingredients.