Listed Victorian wool warehouse reoriented and restored to house a community of fledgling creative and technology businesses.

Helical Bar
Whitechapel, London
£10 million
153,000 square feet

“The new development has successfully walked the difficult line between conservation and imagination that is the perennial goal when refurbishing our architectural heritage.” Ike Ijeh, Building Design, 2017
  • Programme includes workspace, reception/entrance area, art and exhibition space for The Cass, cafe and cycle store
  • Crafted interventions upgrade building while respecting history Building refocused towards emerging Goodman’s Fields masterplan
  • New 12 metre-wide entrance cut into masonry façade
  • Metalwork screen at entrance references history of building, but uses contemporary manufacturing techniques
  • Floorplates replanned around five-storey atrium and ground floor ‘walk’ through building

Client: Helical PLC
Structural Engineer: Heyne Tillett Steel
Environmental Engineer: Exigere

New Art Display Art work display in G-Star Raw space at The Loom
Trying out the new blue steel gates
Before and After Top-Historic image of the building C.1900 Bottom: New entrance on Back Church Lane
Before and After Top-Historic image of the lobby 1980s Bottom-New atrium/'walk' with bespoke plinths housing artworks
Before and After Top-Historic image of the interior C.1900 Bottom-New workspace
Student work at The Loom
The Loom The design of the woven metal gates are a contemporary interpretation of a historic Loom.
Woven metalwork Inspired by the historic image of the loom
Drawings Section
Testing the entrance gates A design option for the new Gowers Walk entrance.

The Loom