Talkback by Henley Halebrown and Manalo & White Architects

Talkback in London was presented at the AT Awards live finals on 20 September 2023 to a jury comprising Sunand Prasad, Marion Baeli, Chris Bicknell, Heather Topel, Hanif Kara, and Chair Catherine Burd. Read about how the project has stood the test of time.

Completed
2001 (Talkback); 2017 (The Mandrake Hotel)

Henley Halebrown’s offices for Talkback, a successful television production company, included workspace for 250 people, editing facilities, a TV studio and rehearsal space. Located in London’s West End, the project reworked four existing buildings, creating a cloistered multistorey form that was shielded from the street and open to the south. In 2017, the building was sold and converted to the Mandrake Hotel by Manalo & White, but the majority of the architect’s design was retained, attesting to its quality and flexibility.

Conceived with community at its heart, the Talkback scheme was planned around a generous kitchen and social space, open decks wide enough to accommodate meetings, and a series of courtyards for social interaction. Articulated by a series of bridges, the cloister around the courtyard addressed the need for flexibility and multiple circulation routes. Upgrades to the existing building fabric, along with good levels of daylighting and a cohesive natural ventilation strategy, ensured that the offices were both energy efficient and comfortable to work in.

Photo: Nick Kane

The building’s subsequent conversion to the Mandrake Hotel required only moderate changes. An additional bridge was added and some of the outside spaces enclosed. ‘The change-of-use and the passage of 20 years resulted in a high-level fit-out and some aesthetic changes,’ says the architect. ‘However, the modest materials originally selected, the flexible approach to circulation, and the desire to balance privacy with community have all been retained. The adaptive reuse of Talkback is testament to our intention for a long-life, loose-fit scheme. As we built on the inheritance of a former textile factory and warehouse, the legacy of Talkback remains in the Mandrake Hotel’s performance today.’