Jeweller Alex Monroe talks to David Hills from DSDHA and AT awards judges Catherine Burd, Sarah Allan, Marion Baeli and Deyan Sudjic about the way this modest building in London’s Southwark has had a transformative impact on the way his company has evolved. Photographer Timothy Soar captures the studio as it is today.
Jeweller Alex Monroe commissioned DSDHA to restore and extend an Edwardian shopfront within the Bermondsey Conservation Area, creating a basement studio, boutique store, three-storey ‘container for crafts’, and a roof terrace.
The primary structure, internal finish, and bespoke furnishings are constructed from sustainably-sourced, prefabricated cross-laminated timber panels, which remove 27.1 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere, eliminate the need for internal finishes, and minimise decorations and repairs.
The staircase creates a stack effect. Generous glazing gives good levels of daylighting, while deep window reveals provide passive solar control. Zinc cladding to the larger south-facing glazed areas modulate direct light and prevent overheating. A handmade pigmented zinc façade reflects the reddish-brown tones and colours of the surrounding buildings. Vertical fins animate the façade and control views in and out.
A central island in the studio encourages communication between staff members.
Alex Monroe, client We talked about the fact that, if you see someone across a busy dark restaurant wearing one of our pieces of jewellery, you might recognise it as ours. But when you get closer, you see more detail; the story unfolds. The studio has the same unfolding narrative. Somebody might have a little skip of the heart when they see it from afar. As they get closer, they see the beautiful hand-made quality of the building, and as they come inside, the story of the building, our personality, and what they can expect from us unfolds.
Sarah Allan The craft and care given to this tiny studio is testament to the commitment of the client and architect, and gets the most out of this small end of terrace site. This is a beautiful building that brings new life and much needed making space to this central London location.
Catherine Burd London – like all towns and cities – is packed with small plots that inevitably lose much of their floorspace to vertical circulation. Here the architect has transformed this ‘lost’ space into an asset – a light-filled, joyful, social space where craftspeople and customers interact. In opting to build on top of the existing basement and ground-floor shopfront, the project recognises the enduring value and embodied carbon locked into our existing building stock.
The palette of natural materials has proved an effective backdrop for the studio to stamp its character on different spaces.
Alex Monroe What I didn’t’ know when we designed this building was that I would soon become very keen to publish our carbon figures. So now we publish the carbon figures for each piece of jewellery we sell. We commissioned an independent firm to do the calculations and our carbon was about a twentieth of other comparable companies because the building is so well insulated and so well-lit that it requires very little energy.
David Hills, architect When the building was designed the way that the carbon was measured wasn’t as rigorous as it is now. We designed it using passive design and great natural ventilation, as well as reusing the existing structure and building on top with timber. The fact that Alex is now measuring the energy cost of the products that are made in the building is really exciting.
The fourth floor dining/meeting room opens out onto a generous roof terrace, providing views across the city.
Marion Baeli The narrative around the use of exposed structural timber throughout give a strong poetic feel to the spaces created. More than ten years on, this pocket site sets an example for the durable use of low-carbon materials with the utmost creativity in the smallest of urban plot sites – a skill to be celebrated.
David Hills It’s also a very social space to work. Traditionally jewellery benches are built against the wall, whereas Alex’s brief was to build an island so people can talk to each other and engage.
Alex Monroe There’s very much a noise that a good workshop makes, where you can talk in a low voice, and you don’t have to shout against the noise. There’s sort of an exciting crackle going on in the background, which is the energy of all these people working together in a creative way. Once we had this building, we somehow became ourselves more. The workshop allowed us to work in a much more collaborative way. The light means that we can undertake much more detailed, finer work. We have less noise pollution and the air’s clean because we tend to have the windows open a lot. We’ve gone from a turnover of £2m (when we moved in) to £6m, so you can see the effect that taking that first step of commissioning this building has had on the business. We’ve been through so many changes and the building has flexed with all of these beautifully.
Deyan Sudjic “We shape our buildings, and then they shape us”, as Churchill once said of the debating chamber of the House of Commons. A tiny studio, workshop and showroom have served to define Alex Monroe’s work as a jeweller over the years.
The handmade, pigmented zinc facade complements the reddish-brown tones of the surrounding buildings. Vertical fins provide further surface articulation and control views in and out.
Project presentation
View David Hills from DSDHA and Alex Monroe give a presentation on Alex Monroe Studio below
Additional Images
