In the neibourhood of Shoreditch in East London, THISS Studio lead a redesign project as a cohesive whole. An interior dynamic space is created for Common Knowledge music management group, defined by bespoke furniture, lighting and shelving, which facilitates knowledge sharing amongst music professionals and recording artists.
THISS Studio has artfully transformed the upper two levels of a former warehouse on Leonard Street in Shoreditch to create a new office, coworking space and bespoke recording studio for music management group, Common Knowledge.
Initially, each specific room was designated a specialist designer but following disruption and delays, client, Ben Blackburn appointed THISS Studio to lead the project as a cohesive whole. As a result, Mitre and Mondays and Noatune were invited to collaborate, bringing together each studio’s specialisation.
In an attempt to challenge the austerity and inaccessibility often associated with the music industry, the brief was to create a vibrant and flexible social hub that feels like a home away from home.
Epitomising THISS Studio’s inclination to see a limitation as an opportunity, restrictions on architectural and structural interventions led to an interior defined by bespoke furniture, lighting and shelving to create a modular and dynamic space which facilitates knowledge sharing amongst music professionals and recording artists.
The larger architectural moves involved the renovation and reconfiguration of the third and fourth floor. Restoring and retrofitting where possible, THISS Studio took a highly functional yet imaginative approach to the overall design.
Materials have been carefully selected for their acoustic qualities and integrated in their rawest forms to embrace the wear and tear of coworking.
THISS Studio worked closely with Mitre and Mondays to develop prototypes, select materials, develop the technical details and deliver the final designs into production. Establishing a sense of honesty in the space, the series employs a tactile palette of cork, aluminium and sycamore from a local London plane from a felled tree near Euston. Each piece was fabricated locally at the Mitre and Mondays workshop in Islington.
Reflective of the surrounding vernacular architecture, the former warehouse’s sweeping brick facade was left untouched.
Entry is on the second floor, where an open stairwell with dark timber floorboards and a chunky red valchromat balustrade leads up to the coworking space on the third floor.
THISS Studio’s office, coworking space and bespoke recording studio for Common Knowledge can be defined by an honest materiality and inherent functionality.
Challenging the conventions of workplace design, THISS Studio has created a convivial and homely environment for music professionals to work, connect, share and inspire.
Facts & Credits
Title Common Knowledge’s office, coworking space and recording studio
Typology Interior, Renovation
Location Shoreditch, East London, United Kingdom
Surface 145 m2
Status Completed, 2023
Architecture & Interior Design THISS Studio
Design team THISS Studio, Mitre and Mondays, Noatune
Photography © Henry Woide
Text by the authors
READ ALSO: Box & Islands | Aνακαίνιση διαμερίσματος από τους P9 Arch Studio