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Television Centre Penthouses

Role: Interior Design & Architecture
Completed 2019

Stanhope PLC and Mitsui Foundation “chose the best up- and-coming British practices to work alongside them” to design the site. Archer Humphryes were selected to create the most prestigious apartments of the site – the flagship penthouses. The client describes there studio as “ every story needs a beginning and this one begins with expression. Trailblazing London architects Archer Humphryes dare to be bold, and their spaces dare to perform. A sense of drama is realised through an intrinsic sense of materiality, craft and above all, a sense of theatre. The stage, as they say, is set.”

In the interior of the penthouse, the design has a central curved picture gallery which has ambient light in the evening, following the form of the original iconic BBC building. It’s bright erudite form is the heart of the scheme connecting the public living spaces and dividing the private areas allowing the owner to display collections elegantly.

The main living and dining space has taken its graphic design and texture from the original ‘super lobby’ of the Helio entrance of the BBC Television Centre with a contemporary twist entwining the history of the site in a contemporary luxury apartment with a replace integral to the room. Furniture has been selected from the architects own products ranges manufactured in Milan, and complemented with modern icons by Gio Ponti.

Domus Nova publication describes:” Known by many in the industry for their ‘maximalist’ approach to design, Archer Humphryes Architects – the same team behind the renovation of Chiltern Firehouse – have once again created a mind-blowing, one-off space at this three-bedroom penthouse apartment in Stanhope’s Television Centre. If there’s one thing that underpins their (very extensive) portfolio, it’s an innate sense of luxury – one that is dazzlingly abundant amongst the vast sky terraces and sweeping plains of lateral living space here. The inspiration for this was actually taken from the 1930’s redevelopment of Eltham Palace, celebrated for its majestic modern architecture, imaginative use of timber and dramatic use of light.”

Television Centre is a unique site. As the home of the BBC for over 50 years, it is a sophisticated working studio complex, the site of a nation’s many memories and a historic Grade II listed building. Once the BBC had made the decision to relocate, it was acquired by Stanhope and partners, who have worked to offer it a new lease of life with a creative mix of uses that look to the future whilst also protecting the building’s original function as a home for British broadcasting.

The construction phase included numerous technical challenges and creative solutions. Working to the circular structure, plans for the building meant no two apartments shared the same layout.

At one point a closed and private site, Television Centre’s ground level is now an open and bustling hive of activity where office workers, residents, TV makers and restaurant goers intersect around the famous forecourt.’

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