Jamestown Road Office by Ben Adams Architects

Project: Jamestown Road
Architecture: Ben Adams Architects
Project team: Ben Adams, Nicholas Jewell
Client: London & Regional Properties Ltd
Location: Camden Town, London
Area: 8,113 sqf
Budget: £14m
Text: Courtesy of Ben Adams Architects
Photos: Courtesy of Ben Adams Architects

This ambitious refurbishment and extension of an old 1980s pathology laboratory delivers a striking new building. Located within the Regent’s Canal Conservation Area, we worked closely with Camden Planning to develop a highly contextual architecture that acknowledges the canal’s industrial heritage whilst minimising the visual impact of the building’s new two-storey extension.

The building has been stripped all the way back to its structural frame to create elegant new elevations, with floor to ceiling warehouse windows onto Jamestown Road and the canal.

Roof plant has been relocated to allow for the addition of two new stepped glass storeys, carefully modelled to ensure views from Camden Lock, opposite, were not obstructed.

A four-storey masonry base houses offices and echoes the brick piers and modulation of historic canalside buildings. The two new upper floors present a light and airy ‘foil’ to the industrial theme below and give panoramic views over London. Deep setbacks from the canal create fantastic terrace spaces onto which the upper floors open, and a green roof offers some welcome space to encourage biodiversity.

Extensive structural works took place within the building to reposition its central atrium, rationalise its interior and maximise the provision of natural light within its deep plan. A new generous reception lobby offers an impressive sense of arrival from Jamestown Road and features earthy tones, polished concrete floors, exposed concrete soffits and bronze accents. A mesh curtain dramatically reveals the glass walled atrium beyond, which serves all floors and is animated by a bank of scenic lifts that dramatically rise through the space. Clever lighting maximises the impact of this space and the transition from street to reception to atrium.