Evaluation

The message that the occupier wished the accommodation to instil was openness, a lack of hierarchy and a non-secretive environment. This has been achieved in the physical expression of the space. The open culture is communicated on entering the large reception area, with its clusters of seating for waiting and informal meeting space, the combined hospitality for visitors with a handsome coffee bar in the contiguous atrium base, and the view into the TV production office beyond. On the upper floors, a sense of permeability extends across and between the several floorplates of workspace.

The ambience in the reception area is one of calm, providing a contrast from the tenor of life in Soho. Whilst the most public part of the building, the reception area nevertheless has a select feel.

From here, the visual sequence and flow of activity moves to the integrated atrium base at the centre of the building, and then to views across the space and upwards in the building. This enables visitors to observe the work and the ambience of the agency, and to sense its openness and vitality. The atrium base is not only a venue for informal meetings and entertaining, but holds the key to the visual interconnections between the building's parts and the sense of unity throughout.

The use of materials subtly supports the disposition of the distinctive functions in the building, without the differentiation being too emphatic. The colour palette is light throughout - with a focus on white, glass and light limestone.

The organisation and design of the workspace has succeeded in being relatively non-hierarchical. Most of the workspace is in the open plan, with the rest behind full height, frameless clear glass partitions. The partners share open plan space at the highest part of the building, the seventh floor, with the best views out through the glazed elevations facing across Golden Square and Beak Street.

The project has succeeded particularly well in creating accommodation that feels 'loose-fit' and relaxed. This allows the occupier to assume its own personality, rather than being shoe-horned into an identity fixed by the building. The 'look and feel' that has been created is also timeless.

The architect has met the client's wish for space that is non-standard in feel. This has been facilitated by the relatively loose approach to interim space planning, partly in response to the agency's rapid growth and inherent tendency to change the size of its work groups. Such an approach calls for more management - in this case a 'watching brief' from the design team.

This outcome suits the agency well, although larger occupiers might not be so tolerant of this level of ongoing management that the building requires.