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Town Hall Hotel is a 98-room luxury hotel, restaurant and bar housed in the old Bethnal Green Town Hall, at the heart of London’s burgeoning East End. Comprising the provision of a contemporary extension in the form of a new top floor and wing, the project also included the restoration and refurbishment of the existing Grade II listed building. Originally erected in 1910 the Edwardian town hall on Cambridge Heath Road was considerably extended in 1937 onto Patriot Square, where the entrance to the new hotel can now be found. Through the years, the 7,500 sq. m building housed the area’s municipal administration, but was victim to numerous modifications insensitive to its preservation and finally fell out of use and was vacated in 1993. Used only as a location for films and television, the building was left to decay in the intervening years until its purchase in 2007 by Singaporean hotelier Peng Loh. Consulted before the purchase and commissioned immediately thereafter, Michel da Costa Gonçalves (DROO) and Nathalie Rozencwajg (NAME) were tasked by their client with designing a contemporary luxury hotel to sit sympathetically within the existing building, restore this building and also add to its volume with an extension. Michel and Nathalie saw the project as the building’s third age, after the 1910 and 1937 phases, and an opportunity to reinvent, as well as restore, a forgotten architectural treasure of the East End. Despite the building being on the at-risk register, DROO and NAME considered approach to the project, a guiding concept of the development and use of traditional techniques and motifs within contemporary cutting edge design and manufacturing technologies, won the approval of English Heritage and planning permission was granted by Tower Hamlets in 2008. The extension to the building, a new wing that stands behind the original 1910 structure and an additional floor that sits atop the flat roof of the 1937 extension, provides a further 1,500 sq. m of accommodation. Wrapped entirely by a laser cut powder coated aluminum skin, no windows or doors are externally visible, allowing it to create a striking abstract backdrop to the original structure, while simultaneously making a definite statement as new architecture. The pattern cut into the skin was taken from a pattern book DROO and NAME developed for the project. An original art deco feature in the Council Chamber inspired the parametrically defined pattern book, a design exercise apparent in not only the aluminum skin but many of Michel and Nathalie new interventions in the hotel from radiator and air conditioning covers to decorative wall panels. The effect of the pattern cut into the skin is performative, allowing natural light into the rooms behind it, while also preserving the privacy of those both inside and out. The faceted form of the extension’s skin and roof was dictated by light and views that had to be maintained for neighboring buildings. DROO and NAME’s design response to these parameters is an example of their ability to provide harmonious elegance and functionality. The skin’s distinctive form is repeated in features including the hotel’s brass reception desk and corridor ceilings of the extension, again bringing together glamour and function. The dimensions of each of the 98 rooms are different, something dictated by the nature of the building and its listed status, therefore allowing Michel and Nathalie to provide 98 unique layouts and designs. DROO and NAME performed an entire internal re-planning of the space in the building and inserted zones of contemporary hotel comfort into these rooms with what they call their “spatial furniture”. Bespoke pods of discrete beds, desks, storage space, kitchens and bathroom suites rendered in materials ranging from CNC milled MDF, Corian, Green Lime marble, glass, oak and Cardoso and Vals stone, all work to interrupt but also sit comfortably within the historical context of the building. The use of a design strategy specific to each room provides charm and function while maintaining a clear delineation between the restored and the new. The reinvention and restoration of the existing building was driven by DROO and NAME’s intensive research of the town hall’s archive of original design elements and realized by numerous highly skilled craftspeople; bringing the building back to its former glorious grandeur, breathing new life into marble floors, ornate molded ceilings, Edwardian and Art Deco detailing. In addition to the residential accommodation, DROO and NAME have also provided a new 14 m titanium tiled lap pool in the basement, restored Conference Room and Mayor’s Room for functions and separate bar and restaurant in the Edwardian wing of the building. The bar and restaurant, named Viajante and accessed from the building’s original Cambridge Heath Road entrance, are furnished solely with bespoke DROO pieces and decorated with silicone injected tapestries and chandeliers designed in collaboration with textile designer Tzuri Guetta.
Location: London, UK
Completion: 2011
Gross Floor Area: 9,000 m2
Architects: DROO + NAME
Project Architect: Michel da Costa Gonçalves (DROO), Nathalie Rozencwajg (NAME)
Design Team: Carl Greaves, Coralie Huon, Agata Borecka, Julien Mirada, Luca de Gaetano, Anne Paillard, Julien Loiseau, Claude Ballini, Taeho Kim, Duncan Geddes, Calvin Chua, Kai Ong
Client: Mastelle (Zinc House)
Main Contractor: MP Brothers
Consultants
Structural: O'Connor Sokolowski Partnership
M&E: Mendick Waring
Quantity Surveyor: Barrie Tankel Partnership
Heritage: Priory Heritage
Planning Supervision: Prospect planning
Lighting: Jonathan Cole Lighting
Windows: Schüco
Sanitary Ware: Duravit
Photography: © Ed Reeve, © Sue Barr, courtesy of DROO + NAME
