We converted a terrace of Grade II Listed buildings in London’s Bloomsbury into student accommodation. Our Client was the Institute of Education, a College of the University of London. The terrace consists of nine buildings dating from the late nineteenth century and designed and built by Thomas Cubitt. We have divided the nine houses into three groups of three, each with its own distinctive identity, reinforced through a separate colour scheme.
Within each of these groups are bedrooms, most of which have en-suite bathrooms and a number of small-scale, communal kitchen facilities. The hall also contains conference facilities and large communal spaces for meetings and parties. Our aim was to encourage small communities to develop amongst the residents as a challenge to the institutional feel of student living. Circulation of the nine houses has been re-organised and shifted from an individual stair per house to a main staircase, lift and corridors at each level allowing disabled access to all parts of the building.