Turnmill
Piercy & Company
Work has completed on architect Piercy&Company’s new building,
Turnmill, for developer Derwent London. The building sits on a
prominent corner site inLondon’s Clerkenwell Green Conservation
Area and provides over 70,500 sq ft of high quality office space with
two large restaurant units on the ground floor and basement.
63 Clerkenwell Road was built in the
The new building successfully negotiates
1860s as a stable for the adjacent railway.
the complex relationship between new
More recently it had been used as office
and old, referencing the historic and
studios, a nightclub, a gym and restaurant.
the contemporary. This is most clearly
Originally, Derwent London commissioned
demonstrated by the brick façade which
Piercy&Company to refurbish the existing
is both sensitive to its context and
building, seeking to improve both the
visually striking. Handmade bricks were
ground floor relationship with the street
sourced from Petersen Tegl in Denmark
and the quality of internal spaces. Planning
in three bespoke shades, developed to
permission for this scheme was granted in
be sympathetic to the neighbouring
2007, but detailed design revealed a series
Grade 1 listed Sessions House. The Roman
of complex and costly issues with the
format bricks create a horizontal emphasis
existing structure which would have led to
across the façade and reflect the sturdy
severely compromised spaces. A new build
masonry characteristic of the area, whilst
scheme offered a significant improvement
the handmade nature of the surface is
to the public realm and also much better
exploiting by using the brick on edge to
volume and light to the office floors.
create sills and soffits and handsetting all
the brickwork with the exception of the
Turnmill draws inspiration from the historic
pre-cats soffits. A range of special moulds
fabric of Clerkenwell and its present day
were fabricated to create curved and
incarnation as the centre of London’s
angled bricks which achieve the complex
creative media industries. The curved plan
geometry of the plan.
Archetech - Page 92
form is a direct response to the movement
of people around the busy site which is
To emphasise the feeling of movement,
set to intensify as Farringdon Crossrail
the mortar joints are recessed horizontally
opens in 2018. Clerkenwell’s quintessential
and filled the vertically, creating variation
robust yet refined warehouse buildings
dependent on the height of the sun
provide a guiding template, while the
and depth of the mortar joint shadow.
concept is inspired by Barbara Hepworth’s
To form a more vertical fenestration
renowned sculpture ‘Curved Form Delphi’
pattern and add further articulation, the
comparing the vernacular of ancient and
window reveals are deep and chamfered
modern Greece. The skin on the outside
on plan fanning out from the centre of
of Hepworth’s sculpture is textured and
the office floors to take advantage of the
articulated, yet inside it is pure white and
unusually panoramic views. En-masse, the
carved from the overall form.
varied chamfers animate the façade and
create variation, often a challenge with
speculative office development.