The TDO studio fit-out is a plywood insertion much like a large, intricate piece of joinery or oversized furniture, supported from a lattice of primer-red steelwork in a renovated railway arch in Bankside, Central London.

Located under the line into Blackfriars station, the arch was bombed in WW2. When we took on the arch, Network Rail had repaired it with concrete and steel, leaving a white metal waterproofed shell with a six metre high steel lattice support structure.

The street frontage was closed off, minimising the amount of daylight entering the arch.

The proposals provided 15 workspaces and an open-plan collaborative ground floor space. A cut back mezzanine floor brings light deeper into the plan and allows the full volume of the railway arch to be experienced and appreciated.

Our design retained the red steel and white sheet metal waterproofing as an exposed finish. The new mezzanine workspace is a face finished plywood insertion. It hangs from the existing steelwork: borrowing from the industrial nature of the space to create a contemporary, contextual architecture studio.

The Telegraph

Open House London: what’s hidden behind closed doors

Photography by Ben Blossom and India Hobson