Accurx Offices – London
Projects Office designed a new workspace in London for Accurx, focusing on communal activity, material re-use, and bespoke elements, celebrating the building’s history while incorporating efficient, vibrant, and sustainable design principles.
Architecture and design practice Projects Office have designed a new workspace in the City of London with a focus on materials, re-use, and communal activity, restoring and re-energising a heritage building.
+ Focus on design for communal activity and unconventional working practices to boost productivity and good mental health at work
+ Retrofit of historic building, with careful re-use of materials and fittings relocated from previous Projects Office fit-out
+ In-depth user research and agile UX approach ensured ergonomic environments designed specifically around each teamThe distinctive spatial brand the design team created for healthtech start up Accurx’s previous offices has been refreshed and further developed to complement the architecture of the former industrial buildings, and the project incorporates a range of bespoke elements reused from the previous fit out. The larger premises’s additional facilities include a canteen with professional chef kitchen, therapy room, and a large meeting room that doubles as a yoga studio.
The design has been developed to celebrate the existing building, originally built in the 19th century as the Cohen and Sons furniture factory, while adding a new chapter to the rich history of the immediate area.
With a commitment to reducing the embodied carbon impact, Projects Office refreshed and incorporated key features from the first fit out including large team tables and bespoke graphic curtains. Made by Scottish textile studio FunMakesGood, the curtain’s lexicon of symbols, referencing traditional healthcare and communication tools in homage to Accurx’s lineage and mission, has become a distinctive fixture for the company.
The material palette has been developed to phase out the use of plastics while ensuring all spaces are vibrant and uplifting, even when deep within the interior of the building.
The clients embraced the architects’ idea to apply a UX approach to the project. The design team embedded themselves in the space and culture of the start-up, working in the premises for a week to fully understand, record and analyse how the teams worked and socialised. The architects also conducted in depth interviews with team members, from founders to chefs to engineers to inform a design brief that would resolve friction and increase opportunities for ideas exchange.
The result is a range of unique, coherent and welcoming spaces, far from the stuffiness of many corporate or healthcare environments. In the competitive world of tech, an attractive office environment can be an important recruitment tool. Designed to enable this ambitious company to continue to grow, the fit out reflects Accurx’s ambition, ethos and brand identity, facilitates efficient working, and demonstrates that re-use of materials and fittings can be of benefit to every office move – challenging the wasteful conventions of commercial fit outs.
Architect and Projects Office co-founder, James Christian says “It was a pleasure to continue our relationship with Accurx and to develop a second workspace to support their growing team. As clients, Accurx are ambitious and thoughtful, with an understanding of the importance of good design, and the role that iteration, experimentation, research and conversation have in the development of successful projects. The workspace that we have created reflects the bold ambition of the company, and is designed to support them to continue to thrive.
Design: Projects Office
Contractor: Bluecrow
Photography: Andrew Meredith
