vPPR Selected Portfolio_2024 by Tatiana von Preussen

vPPR ARCHITECTS

LONDON (HEAD OFFICE)

vPPR Architects 22 Prince of Wales Road, London NW5 3LG

+44 207 729 6168 www.vPPR.co.uk admin@vPPR.co.uk

LIVERPOOL

vPPR Architects 44 Canal Street Liverpool L20 8QU

HAMBURG

vPPR Architektur GmbH Große Elbstraße 279 22767 Hamburg Germany

What makes us different?

WOMEN-LED

- All-women team

- Detailed stakeholder consultation

- Emphasis on collaboration and social spaces

- Enhancing wellbeing Art

- Create a narrative inspired by art that users can identify with

- Collaborate with local artists to connect to the wider cultural context

-Establish a creative atmosphere and unique design, using colour, texture and lighting.

ECOLOGY

- Net zero and BREEAM Outstanding

- Break down boundaries between interior and exterior

- Use local materials and craftsmen

- Natural, low VOC and recycled products

- Abundant planting

Flexibility

- Future proof for changing technologies and new ways of working

- Different material choices for permanent and temporary elements

- Modular elements with enough variety and choice to adapt to future needs

vPPR Capability Statement

- vPPR is an award-winning all-women architecture practice, set up by Tatiana von Preussen, Catherine Pease and Jessica Reynolds in 2009, based in London, Liverpool and Hamburg.

- We design unique office fit-outs that build community within your workforce, are informed by art, and are sustainable and flexible.

- We are highly experienced in delivering projects through RIBA Work Stages 0-7.

- We are a collaborative, responsive and people-friendly team, ensuring the process is as enjoyable as the completed project.

- We have a special focus on the initial stakeholder engagement process which informs our in-depth understanding of the overall brand and design intent.

- Delivering high quality spaces, keeping on budget and delivering on ESG are top priorities for us.

- Our team varies between 12-15 members of staff. Being small has the advantage of enabling an agile, responsive, innovative and personal approach.

- Our background in exhibition design and landscape informs the design of our unique office fit outs.

- Our deep research into sustainability and construction leads to designs for the workplace, amenity areas and wellness spaces, which are innovative today but will last forever.

- We work across different scales of projects with construction costs up to £35m, areas of up to 8000m2 and experience in managing teams of over 15 consultants.

Selected Awards

2023 ASLA New York, Merit Award

2023 Brick Award, Education Category

2023 NLA Award, Retail and Hospitality Category

2020 DOMUS 50 Best Architecture Firms

2018 NLA Housing Awards

2017 RIBA Award

2015 RIBA London Emerging Practice

2015 RIBA Award

2015 AJ Emerging Woman Architect of the Year Award

2014 RIBA Award

Selected High Profile Clients

BRITISH PAVILION

CANTO

Pavilion

Venice Art Biennale 2024 with John Akomfrah

British Pavilion Venice Art Biennale 2024 with John Akomfrah

Barbican Art Gallery: Masculinities

Royal Academy: Marina Abramovic

Royal Academy: Michael Craig-Martin

The Hepworth, Wakefield: Alina Szapocznikow

White Cube, Memory Palace

OFFICE PLUS

- 8000 sq m

- Net Zero

- BREEAM Outstanding

- Leesman Survey Outstanding

User Scenarios

SUSTAINABILITY

‘The generic is not compelling to the human environment.”

COLLABORATION

“It’s the collaboration spaces that will make this space different. The amenity offer is appealing to our diverse candidates.”

CULTURE

“It will be a refined offering: we need global consistency. We want to be the destination of choice. It’s not just about talent attraction but talent retention too. It’s about being valued on your first day.”

TECHNOLOGY

“When talking to potential recruits, I tilt my camera to show off the WeWork space which is less formal, more laid-back, has more breakout spaces, feels open, like a tech start-up. “

A healthy workplace improves wellbeing, and attracts the new generation with biophilia and a Net Zero design

Collaboration improves productivity and promotes team building through formal and informal working opportunities

Culture is created through a strong identity that welcomes diversity and retains talent - it makes people want to come into the office so they don’t miss out - it has a wow factor and is instagrammable

The workplace is designed to be fully flexible - future proofing it for new technologies

Sustainability

OFFICE+ CONCEPT

Office Plus rethinks from the detail of the the office, in order to office space for Goldman occupying floors 9-12 The name Office Plus productivity, and innovation. Programmatically, Office plus a social hub, a garden, wellness space, and Formally, Office Plus

device that is ended, and inclusive.

Concept section as abstracted landscape

The project is inspired painting, Boys Fishing, artist, David Cox, as a and future landscapes

The project envisages Way, as a vertical landscape, Goldman Sachs floor horizontal layer of nature name, colour palette, from the artwork. The order are: Field, Tussock,

Boys Fishing, David Cox (1783–1859)

Field

Tussock

Sky Floor

Forrest Floor

OFFICE+ SUSTAINABILITY

Plus

Sustainability Summary by Grigoriou Interiors

+ The wider story for this project, and a wider issue of the market, is the acknowledgement of the true baseline and challenge we have ahead of us. Being courageous to understand the baseline where it is rather than where we might wish it to be, is critical for a sustainable outcome and for us to make realistic plans for action. This may sound so simple, but this has been a hard fought for place to be at for sustainability.

+ Systemic changes are needed in the design and procurement process; no one can make this change alone, or without a truly collaborative approach with everyone as a partner. This project stretched norms in the way it pushed against typical design, procurement, and operational approaches and highlighted the supply chain as an enabler or preventer of targets and change.

+ No stone was left unturned to understand the issues at play, to test attitudes and possibilities.

+ Knowledge is key and this is needed across all parties of a project. The project created impact through the general uplift in understanding of the environmental issues and pushed for data in the market and the use of EPDs and other data sources.

+ We will move forwards only as fast as we can adapt emotionally to the change. Sustainability is a human thing and the change we are asking of us all is the size of a generation and the way we know things. This does not mean worse.

+ We have great opportunities for innovation that can help our industry and the built environment overall for everyone’s benefit. Innovation needs to come not just in the form of technology and products but also process and culture. This project challenged approaches and pushed boundaries for some new solutions;

• Lifecycle thinking through the design process and highlighted in the thinking around the use of pods – leading strategic thinking in the way an asset will perform in its lifecycle.

• Designing with the end in mind and working backwards – reduced waste and created effective use of materials, processes of delivery, and in use/ end of life.

• Use of a leading lighting study to impact operational energy performance – innovation in the process of design and understanding the links between aesthetic decisions and operational energy performance.

• Use of pre-loved partition glazing – systemic change, process innovation, stretching boundaries and engaging with leading figures in the supply chain.

• Use of 100% recycled emulsion paint – stretching boundaries and engaging with leading figures in the supply chain.

• Re-use of large parts of the CAT A services – prevent waste, some landlord good practice in CAT A design.

• Delivery transport planning and actions included new processes – systemic and process change.

• Creation of 2no EPDs that are bespoke to client needs – leading action, partnership approach and data generation.

GOLDMAN

The amenity area is furnished with bespoke Plus Seating, a bespoke flexible modular seating system designed by vPPR Architects, that can tile together, encouraging team socialisation and further informal collaboration.

The Plus seating functions as a single unit or can connect together. A variety of configurations can be achieved including booth like seating or more linear seating facing out to the exterior. They are fabricated with soft curves and pistachio-green upholstery, made with recycled content.

Cluster Configuration

A variety of configurations can be achieved including booth like seating or more linear seating facing out to the exterior. They are fabricated with soft curves and

On each level, the amenity space contains a sculptural pantry that is lit overhead by bespoke Plus Lighting, conceived by vPPR Architects, coloured according to the floor palette, forming a key wayfinding element. Sink locations are highlighted in contrasting colours in the lights.

CORRIDOR ART MICHAEL WANG

Orange foxtail (Alopecurus aequalis), Wychall Reservoir, 1991

considered a weed, orange foxtail only grows in areas of seasonal standing water. During wet years, the species may not appear, only to reappear when drier periods expose the summer it prefers. The common name for this grass comes from its of often bright orange anthers that hang from a long, tail-like inflorescence. While records for orange foxtail in Birmingham date to the 19th century, it has not been recorded in the area since when a relatively large population was observed at the edge of Wychall reservoir in Kings Norton. The reservoir, originally constructed to supply mill owners with a steady supply of water, is used to mitigate flooding from the River Rea.

moonwort spends years underground, drawing its energy from in the soil, before sending up a single leaf. This species of fern then not appear again for a season or more. In 1662, a botanizing expedition took the early parson-naturalist John Ray to Sutton Park. Here he recorded moonworts “in great Plenty.” In the modern period, magical associations still surrounded this plant. Nicholas Culpeper’s 1653 Complete Herball recounts the “country” superstition that moonwort “will open locks, and unshoe such horses tread upon it.” In 1971, a few plants were still seen growing among grasses in Sutton Park, but the species has not been recorded in Birmingham since.

Ivy-leaved bellflower (Hesperocodon hederaceus), Sutton Park, 1891

Recently renamed and placed in its own genus, ivy-leaved bellflower is uncommon member of the bellflower family. It grows only under shade in moist, acid soils by flowing water. It winds its way through low vegetation on long, thread-like stems, from which emerge tiny blue flowers. It was last seen in Sutton Park in 1891 by the businessman and naturalist Arthur Winkler Wills. A few years later Wills would publish “The Preservation of Native Plants” in The Midland Naturalist, urging the protection of wild plants threatened by over-collection. Botanical artist Pratt praised the bellflower’s delicate beauty in her 1863 Haunts Wild Flowers, but warned that “in the midland counties it is seldom seen, except where its great elegance has won for it a place in flower pot, but it rarely flourishes long afar from its native haunts.” Ivy-leaved bellflower has not been found in Sutton Park or anywhere in Birmingham since Wills’s observation and is declining throughout Britain.

Orange foxtail (Alopecurus aequalis),

Greater chickweed (Stellaria neglecta), Sparkhill, 1993

Often considered a weed, orange foxtail only grows in areas of seasonal standing water. During wet years, the species may not appear, only to reappear when drier periods expose the summer mud it prefers. The common name for this grass comes from its fringe of often bright orange anthers that hang from a long, tail-like inflorescence. While records for orange foxtail in Birmingham date back to the 19th century, it has not been recorded in the area since 1991, when a relatively large population was observed at the edge of Wychall reservoir in Kings Norton. The reservoir, originally constructed to supply mill owners with a steady supply of water, is now used to mitigate flooding from the River Rea.

Larger than the common chickweed, greater chickweed appears much more sporadically. The French physician and botanist Alexandre Louis Simon Lejeune recognized greater chickweed as a separate species in 1824, in his study of the flora of Spa in Belgium. It is recognizable by its deeply lobed, white petals, and distinguished from the common chickweed by its larger size and 8-10 stamens, approximately double that of the common variety. Rarely seen in Birmingham, greater chickweed was last recorded in the vicinity of Sparkhill in 1993.

The moonwort spends years underground, drawing its energy from fungi in the soil, before sending up a single leaf. This species of fern might then not appear again for a season or more. In 1662, a botanizing expedition took the early parson-naturalist John Ray to Sutton Park. Here he recorded moonworts “in great Plenty.” In the early modern period, magical associations still surrounded this plant. Nicholas Culpeper’s 1653 superstition that moonwort “will open locks, and unshoe such horses as tread upon it.” In 1971, a few plants were still seen growing among grasses in Sutton Park, but the species has not been recorded in Birmingham since.

Ivy-leaved bellflower (Hesperocodon hederaceus),

Recently renamed and placed in its own genus, ivy-leaved bellflower is an uncommon member of the bellflower family. It grows only under shade in moist, acid soils by flowing water. It winds its way through low vegetation on long, thread-like stems, from which emerge tiny blue flowers. It was last seen in Sutton Park in 1891 by the businessman and naturalist Arthur Winkler Wills. A few years later Wills would publish “The Preservation of Native Plants” in protection of wild plants threatened by over-collection. Botanical artist Anne Pratt praised the bellflower’s delicate beauty in her 1863 of the Wild Flowers seldom seen, except where its great elegance has won for it a place in the flower pot, but it rarely flourishes long afar from its native haunts.” Ivy-leaved bellflower has not been found in Sutton Park or anywhere in Birmingham since Wills’s observation and is declining throughout Britain.

The southern wood-rush often grows alongside hairy wood-rush in woodlands and hedgerows. Both species can be quickly overtaken by encroaching vegetation. The southern wood-rush sends up a long inflorescence from a tuft of narrow leaves. The brownish flowers unfold into a six-pointed star, surrounding three long, feathery stigmata. Edward Forster the Younger first identified the species. He found it growing in Hainault forest in Essex in 1795. Its name, honouring Forster, was assigned by the botanist James Edward Smith, founder of the Linnean Society. The species was last seen in Birmingham–close to the northern edge of its range–near Moseley New Pool in Swanshurst Park in 1993.

The green hellebore is native to parts of Britain, but, through long cultivation as a medicinal and ornamental plant, its range has expanded. It can be difficult to distinguish truly “wild” populations from naturalised plants. John Gerard, in his famous calls the green hellebore “Helleborastrum” and recommends all hellebores as curatives for melancholy–yet cautions that “it is not to be given but to robustious and strong bodies” owing to its toxicity. The green hellebore is easily recognized by its nodding green flowers dominated by five broad sepals. An apparently wild plant was seen at Kings Heath Park Pond in 1990, where it is no longer found.

Map of Birmingham identifying last recorded locations of vanished flora.

Greater chickweed Sparkhill, 1993

Larger than the common much more sporadically.

Alexandre Louis Simon Lejeune separate species in 1824, is recognizable by its deeply from the common chickweed

Moonwort (Botrychium lunaria),

seen at Kings Heath Park

Moonwort (Botrychium lunaria), Sutton Park, 1971

Plus Grid concept to maximise flexibility of layout for different teams

Field Level 9

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either direction room pod booths booths space baffle ceiling grid that integrates lighting in Plus configurations, layouts in either direction

Select elements are coloured to match the floor colour, highlighting key features, including structural columns, collaboration carpets, Plus Curtains, Plus Pendants, and Plus Planters.

Desk

with Unifor, is a bespoke design consisting of four individual desks arranged in a plus formation that create a shared space in the middle where the desks meet. Each desk is height adjustable, cantilevers from a central plinth and has a timber finish. The collaboration space in the centre is highlighted by a coloured pendant light above.

This desk facilitates collaboration, flexibility and dynamic spatial arrangements in the following ways:

The multi-directionality of the Plus Desk ensures each team member has their own distinct outlook, resulting in a dynamic workplace layout.

The Plus Desk can form interconnected clusters to adapt to the needs of different sized teams, optimising flexibility in the workplace.

Plus Desk Cluster Configurations Highlighting collaboration-mode desks

maximise flexibility of layout

Private mode

Collaboration mode Plus

the open plan with elegant functionality and detailing. Integrated interstitial spaces for break out areas are defined by open framework extending from the meeting room pods, creating safe, informal team gathering spaces.

Cox’s landscape painting, are used to visually break up the open plan office space, and bring acoustic control. The translucency and openings in the curtains offer connectivity between different areas. The colour picks up on the complementary colour of the floor layer.

Call booth

Meeting Room Plus Interstitial Collaboration Space

Focus booth with edge panel Meeting room / Office

Modular

Integrated interstitial spaces for break out areas are defined by open framework extending from the meeting room pods, creating

Plus Curtains [Workplace + Public Area]

Bespoke curtains, depicting pixilated versions of David Cox’s landscape painting, are used to visually break up the open plan office space, and bring acoustic control. The translucency and openings in the curtains offer connectivity between different areas. The colour picks on the complementary colour of the floor layer.

Call booth Focus booth with edge panel

room / Office

Modular concept diagrams by vPPR Architects

The modular pod system, designed by Unifor, breaks up the open plan with elegant functionality and detailing.

safe, informal team gathering spaces.

Call booth Meeting Room Plus Interstitial Collaboration Space

Focus booth with edge panel Meeting room / Office

Modular concept diagrams by vPPR Architects

The modular pod system, designed by Unifor, breaks up the open plan with elegant functionality and detailing. Integrated interstitial spaces for break out areas are defined by open framework extending from the meeting room pods, creating safe, informal team gathering spaces.