When our long-term partner, Work.Life, came to us with their Clerkenwell Green site, we knew it needed to stand apart from their nearby Courtyard coworking space. Housed in an Edwardian industrial building once home to printers and watchmakers, the design had to honour the area’s maker heritage while creating a calm, flexible coworking hub. We reimagined eight floors of workspace inside a structure full of quirks, transforming it into an environment where history and modern working meet.
Project in Brief
- Eight floors of coworking, meetings, and social areas designed to maximise flexibility
- Design shaped by Clerkenwell’s industrial past, with earthy tones, metallic details and immersive themed rooms
- Smart, adaptable layouts to work with irregular walls and limited natural light
Honouring Clerkenwell’s Makers
Clerkenwell has always been a hub for creativity and craft, and that story runs through every design detail. We used earthy terracotta, muted greens and concrete-effect finishes to bring warmth, while wrought iron and brick slips tied the interiors back to the building’s industrial roots. Meeting rooms took inspiration from local trades, gin distillers, clockmakers, letterpress printers, each one painted floor to ceiling in a single shade to create a bold, characterful identity.
Across the work floors, we introduced exposed ceilings sprayed in a single colour. It gave cohesion to the open services, softened the visual noise and elevated the raw industrial feel. Corridors and breakout spaces picked up motifs from the area’s heritage, from bicycle-wheel clocks to letterpress type, embedding Clerkenwell’s history in unexpected places.
Designing with Quirks
No walls ran parallel, floors clashed between timber and concrete, and drawings proved undated. We worked side by side with the site team, surveying daily and adjusting layouts in real time. Offices were planned along window lines to capture natural light, while teapoints were placed on multiple levels to spread activity evenly. Meeting rooms were located in the basement, lower ground, and first floor, freeing up the best views for work areas.
Sanitaryware in good condition was salvaged and reused, surface-mounted sinks were refitted onto new joinery, and exposed ceilings cut the need for excess materials. Even the MEP system was reused wherever possible, reducing waste without compromising function. What began as a dark, nightclub-like interior became a layered, textural workspace that reflects both Work.Life’s identity and the character of Clerkenwell Green.
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