London studio 6a Architects has revealed its plans to renovate and extend a vacant office in Camden that forms part of the Grand Union Complex designed by Grimshaw in the late 1980s.
Expected to complete in 2023, the project will involve refurbishing and extending the office, named Grand Union House, to create 6,500 square metres of modern workspace.
Alongside the offices, 6a Architects will introduce three flexible commercial units and six affordable apartments, while improving the surrounding public space.
Design responds to "post-COVID city"
The project, approved by Camden Council, is being developed by 6a Architects in collaboration with the London developer Sellar, which acquired Grand Union House in 2006.
The office forms part of the Grand Union Complex, a campus designed for Sainsbury's between 1986 and 1988 by Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners, the British studio now known as Grimshaw. The complex also includes the high-tech Sainsbury's supermarket and terraced Grand Union Canal Walk Housing, both of which are Grade II*-listed. Grand Union House was intended for light industrial use but it was only ever used as office space due to limited site access.
6a Architects has revealed its plans to renovate Grand Union House
According to 6a Architects, the redevelopment of the office will reference the high-tech architecture of the adjacent listed buildings, which feature industrial materials and expressed structural elements.
However, the priority of the design is...