Project overview
London
In the early days of mobile app development BT Cellnet / O2 launched a limited design competition for a temporary research and development centre within the shell of an existing, disused film studio at Ealing Studios in west London. Eldridge’s winning proposal responded to the fact that the studio was due for demolition after two years and centred on the design of elements that could be dismantled and re-used in a new building.
The design of the open plan work areas challenged the conventions of BT’s corporate environment providing a model for application development facilities of this kind within the firm’s new organization. The entire exterior of the building was wrapped in a white translucent fabric skin presenting a new and quite abstract image to the outside world and also served to protect the Centre from the adjacent construction sites. The interior became a sculptural backdrop to a series of finely engineered mobile structures housing meeting space and development facilities. The practice also designed the family of moveable furniture which allowed the reconfiguration of work groups around the power and data bridges which structured the space.
