044 | OFFICE PROJECT | ONE PICCADILLY
City Centre Oasis Interior design studio SpaceInvader transforms the previously lifeless One Piccadilly office and retail building in the heart of Manchester, UK, into a vibrant and contemporary bustling hub. Inspiration from the city's rich history was used to influence colour palettes and fixture choices.
Manchester-based interior design studio SpaceInvader has transformed one of the city’s well-known developments at One Piccadilly Gardens for LGIM Real Assets (Legal & General). Originally designed by architects Allies and Morrison, and developed in 2003 by Argent, the building faces into the gardens with an impactful red-brick frontage. Comprised of retail on the ground floor and office space above, SpaceInvader's brief was to design new interiors for the six-storey Grade A office spaces, creating a more inviting, dynamic office that promoted a sense of welcome, wellbeing, flexibility, and collaboration, via a scheme that would match the building fabric in terms of character and presence. “The transformation forms part of a bid to bring more life and love to this part of the city,” says SpaceInvader Founder John Williams. “Helping to ignite a more vibrant surrounding area with a café culture feel. Legal & General took the decision to invest in the building in order to make a mark and help elevate the overall Piccadilly area.” Senior Interior Designer on the project is Regina Cheng who sat down with darc to discuss the project and SpaceInvader’s design intentions.
“We were appointed by the client right at the outset, creating a feasibility study for the different areas, analysing how the spaces were being used and putting together test fits and concept ideas for how to improve them,” she explains. “We then worked closely with the project team through to completion.” The original interior of One Piccadilly comprised an entrance to the office building located on a cut-through that sees a lot of throughtraffic but offered no real sense of arrival. Existing views through to the interior gave off unwelcoming, dull and grey impressions. Once inside, an existing, huge-scale reception desk functioned more as a barrier than a welcoming element, discouraging people from doing anything but passing straight on through the speedgates, despite a few additional arrangements of loose furniture serving as waiting areas. The double height diagonal void through the ground and first floors of the building was also not utilised to its best advantage. “There was a great opportunity here,” Williams reflects, “to turn the personality of the offer around, working with, rather than against the building. A new interior that was properly integrated with the building’s stature, location and material palette was called for, to make the most