A polychromatic glazed brick facade enlivens Stiff & Trevillion’s Soho studio for Damien Hirst

Photos
Nicholas Worley

Designed by Stiff & Trevillion for developers Enstar Capital and Landcap, a new building at 40 Beak Street in London’s Soho has been acquired by artist Damien Hirst for use as a ‘flagship studio and art complex’, due to open early next year. The design of the building’s modelled brick facades responds to the architectural history of the area, and incorporates bespoke cornice and window reveal details developed in collaboration with artist Lee Simmons.

“Beak Street forms part of a network of narrow streets which dates back to the late seventeenth century, and the majority of the buildings are historic, individualistic and constructed in brick”, notes the architect. “Early in the design process we envisaged a heavyweight building with depth and texture; brick was the obvious choice for the facade.”

Once the basic fenestration arrangement had been established, Stiff & Trevillion “began to develop various details to enhance the design”. These included projecting piers to accentuate the verticals and conceal movement joints, and splayed window reveals intended to improve visibility from within the building and to increase daylight penetration.

Given the amount of repetition in the facade, Stiff & Trevillion initially anticipated that it would be constructed using precast modules clad with glazed brick slips, and worked with a specialist in hand-glazing to develop some “stunning” samples. However, the restrictions of that company’s kilns limited it to working with slips rather than full bricks, and despite “extensive engagement” with the precast industry, the architects were unable to achieve the target costs using that method.

Instead, Stiff & Trevillion revised the design to incorporate hand-laid whole bricks. These were manufactured by glazed brick specialist St Joris in the Netherlands. Over 100 special brick formats were required.

“We originally hoped that the brickwork could be loadbearing”, says the architect, “but site logistics required that the ground floor facade was completed towards the end of the project, and meant that the brickwork would be supported on stainless steel support angles fixed back to the concrete structure”.

The facade was constructed with the brick acting as a rainscreen, and using secondary steel framing as the inner leaf, faced in cementitious board. This meant that the building could be made watertight quickly, with the brickwork taken off the critical path and progressed in parallel with internal works. Aluminium windows were fitted to apertures in the steel framing system, carefully set out to brick modules, and fully sealed to the breather membrane with the EPDM mechanically fixed to all sides of the window. Black mortar was used, with 7mm joints. Combined with ‘T’ and ‘L’ profile caps to the glazing, this “helped to give definition to the facade, and a precise, elegant appearance”, says Stiff & Trevillion.

Credits