The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ new home provides contemporary office spaces to support new ways of working for its 200+ staff, as well as conferencing facilities and a public café. It enables the College to provide a fully accessible building with an emphasis on health and wellbeing.
The site at 10-18 Union Street in the London Borough of Southwark comprises two existing buildings, of which the North is a converted hop warehouse dating from 1853 and the South was purpose-built for offices in the 1980s. The scheme covers the majority of the existing courtyard with a new glazed atrium in order to provide a new main entrance and College reception/events space. Located within this atrium a large helical stair that joins the two existing buildings, helping to address existing floor level differences, and creating a new dynamic, central sculptural feature.
Prior to construction, the design was meticulously mocked up by the project team using AutoCAD, 1:1 paper prototypes and also 1:1 panel mock-up samples.
Now, the crest can be seen through all areas of the building as you walk by office windows, on the different levels on the helical staircase, up-close or at a distance. Moreover, at different hours of the day, an interesting play of light is created as the shadows of the crest change depending on the amount of natural light passing through.