"London's Victorian viaducts dominate and divide neighbourhoods, creating corridors of conflict, compounded by industrial use of the viaduct arches. Due to de-industrialisation there is an abundance of centrally located, vacant 'brownfield' arch spaces," state the architects. "Adapting these to new uses or to social or creative applications is critical to inner-city communities. Archway Studios occupies part of the viaduct, a vaulted workshop linked to an atrium with residential alcoves. The design works with the contrast between the compressed, cavernous qualities of the arch and the slender, ecclesial spaces of the atrium and alcoves."
Upon their first visits to the site, the architects were inspired by images from the industrial past — from Victorian to Dickensian — alongside the creative clash of counter-cultures. The resulting arched building posed the challenge of light penetration. "We imagined light to be an excavating force and hollowed the building from the in and outside," state Undercurrent. "To squeeze every inch of space, we studied ways to construct a thin but robust shell, applying stressed skin construction from ship and aircraft manufacturing."
The volume subverts its tight site conditions, encapsulating light and lofty interiors that offer release in spite of constraint. A ring of slender steel foils mould the narrow site, forming a protective acoustic shell cupped around interior spaces. Daylight filters into the building through slits in the segmented foils, scooping light into the deep recesses of the arch.
Archway studios stands out in its surroundings, even when dwarfed by inner-city neighbours. As one of 10,000 arches that dissect neighbourhoods across London, it is a model that can be adapted for community benefit and regeneration.
Project Architect: Didier Ryan
Engineering: Eckersley O'Callaghan Engineers
Location: Southwark, London
Project year: 2010 – 2012