A building fit for the movies

When it comes to entertainment it doesn't get much bigger than Warner Bros. They wanted big drama, and an expansive workspace which could carry them into the future. And we were just the team to deliver that. The challenge was to transform and re-energise a regular nine-storey corporate building with a central enclosed atrium into a vibrant multi-functional building. Our first big move was replacing the glass atrium for open balustrading and introducing a feature staircase across 9 floors, which energised the building in a way that they never expected.

The staircase was inspired by movie negative film; negative areas were represented in glass and positive areas were in solid metal, both arranged in a linear ribbon around the atrium which allows various levels of light a privacy protection into the workspace. The ‘film’ unravels itself from top to bottom; with the upper floors being more solid and private and lower levels being gradually more open and visually connected. This allowed us to position teams and types of spaces to suit their required levels of integration.

Working with Warner Bros., we completely reimagined the building's stack; at the front on every floor were centralised meeting room suites which could be used and serviced in a more efficient manner. The top of the building is now a coworking lounge for people to meet, socialise and share the best views over london. At the foot of the atrium on the first floor is a restaurant and town hall space, with the open atrium acting as an amphitheater for all hands meetings.

The ground floor arrival space has been reworked, starting at the front door with a new facade and entrance which now proudly displays a 15 ft showreel screen with the reception foyer. A branded experience leads you to their entertainment lounge, bar and 150 person cinema.

The building was bursting with movie memorabilia and we carefully curated how this should be distributed around the building to have greater impact, including areas of showcase, display and digital signage.

Now, with bags of personality and drama, the building is operationally sustainable as a result of fabric upgrades, building management optimisation and circular thinking in the material selection. The building achieves BREEAM Very Good Certified.