Using the foyer interior provided by furniture maker Davison Highley, lifts by Elan, and toilet roll holders by the London-based-ironmonger izé, British design firm Make have successfully renovated the 1950s Mark and Spencer’s headquarters at 55 Baker Street in London.
To save energy and resources, the firm decided to keep most of the original exterior and refurbished just 50% of the building fabric. A sculptural tree-like structure on castors created by Watts in Bolton replaced the 12 columns of the foyer while all the non-structural elements in the interior was stripped away and fitted the concrete infrastructure with a seven-storey atrium to be lit by programmable LEDs, designed by Jason Bruges studio in Shoreditch that could be controlled by guest artists in the future.
To further reduce running cost and to maximize energy efficiency, bespoke chilled beams with holes which can be controlled individually were also used in the building which has since received an ‘Excellent’ rating from BREEAM.
Source: Inhabitat
