Deluxe Studios, Whitfield Street, London

We have been commissioned to fit-out new London studios for the major post-production company Deluxe. The existing buildings span an entire urban block in Fitzrovia, from Charlotte Street to Whitfield Street, they were designed and built in the 1960s and purchased by Deluxe as an office shell.

Our aim is to convert the bland space into a vibrant studio complex. The project has been designed to a high standard of detail with a particular focus on quality of finish, acoustics and control of light.

As part of the new proposals an entry sequence has been designed, leading clients from a small opening on Charlotte Street, through two landscaped courtyards and a glass entrance pavilion to a central client space. This is a focal point in the proposed design which utilises high specification timber flooring along with black glass, leather and high gloss wall finishes, the centre piece of the space is a natural gas fire.

Beyond the client space there are a series of private viewing theatres which have been carefully sculpted using acoustic modelling and natural colours in order to balance sound quality and visual passivity. The distorted forms and carefully selected finishes of the theatres allow them to diffuse boundaries between the fictive and real space.

Above the cinemas are further editing suites and offices culminating at the topmost level in an open light creative studio. Linking spaces between the rooms echo the cinematic theme. Various different finishes have been used so that the visual experience shifts as the user moves through the space, replicating the motion of film.

The project represents an opportunity to explore the relationship between the technical and imaginative demands of film and through this the interplay between the senses and the built environment.