Building B4 in front Canary Wharf skyline

Design District

A pair of affordable studio buildings as part of a new creative district on the Greenwich peninsula.

David Kohn Architects worked with developer Knight Dragon on two new build creative studio buildings as part of the Design District. They are part of a masterplan of sixteen buildings that together create a new quarter for small creative businesses. Buildings A4 and B4 are a pair of miniature glowing palazzi. They share heavy red masonry bases, green gridded glazed facades and are adorned by figurative sculpture and an illuminated rooftop sign that announces your arrival at the ‘DESIGN DISTRICT.’

The architecture is classically-inspired but makes playful reference to other periods and ideas, from the heavily adorned palazzi of the Venetian guild houses, to the American mid-west roadside architecture beloved of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott-Brown, to the late works of British architect, James Stirling. The buildings speak of making rules and breaking them and hope to similarly inspire their creative occupants. Read about this project in the Architects' Journal, “Eclectic dreams: David Kohn’s Greenwich Design District buildings”and in the Swiss journal Werk, Bauen + Wohnen.

Project
Creative studios and workshops

Location
London, United Kingdom

Client
Knight Dragon

Size 
2500m2

Status
Completed 2022

Construction value
£5.5m

Design Team 
Benjamin Boehringer, Adam Perkins, Natalie Klak, Tarn Philipp, Jessica Lyons, Matt Volsen, Philip Dring, Tom Whittaker

  • Photography
  • Max Creasy
A4 building, Design District signage detail
Frontal view of A4 building at dusk
A4 building, Greenwich Peninsula
B4 building, facade detail
B4 building, facade detail with balcony
A4 building interior, MadebyManos studio
A4 building interior, Homework studio
A4 building interior, detail of a hand-drawing printed on glass
A4 building, columns detail
A4 Building Elevation
A4 Building Plan
B4 Building Elevation
B4 Building Plan
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