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    SODA offers model for office-to-residential conversions with Roca in Liverpool

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    London studio SODA has converted a 1970s office block in Liverpool city centre into a residential building that  includes co-working and wellness facilities.

    The adaptive reuse project sees the 10-storey block, which spent decades as an office for HM Revenue and Customs, transformed into rental homes managed by operator Livingway.
    Communal spaces take up most of the ground floorRoca contains 120 one- and two-bedroom apartments, plus two floors of co-living-style amenities for residents. These include workspaces, a large kitchen, cinema room, gym and treatment rooms and a planted roof terrace.
    Russell Potter, co-founding director at SODA, believes the project can serve as a model for office-to-residential conversions in city-centre locations.
    The design includes mix of flexible lounge and workspaces”The leaps that office design has made over the past decade or two have meant that certain period properties from the 1960s and 70s are perhaps not the most desirable from a commercial point of view,” he told Dezeen.

    “But if they occupy prime city-centre locations, they can offer amazing opportunities to adapt and re-use, to reinvigorate city centres with genuinely flexible and crafted spaces.”
    A timber “activity wall” provides surfaces, seating and storageLivingway’s model is a version of co-living. By offering Roca residents access to communal spaces, in addition to their apartments, it aims to foster a sense of community.
    Many of these shared spaces can be found on the ground floor. Here, various work, lounge and dining spaces are organised around a timber “activity wall” that provides surfaces, storage and seating.
    A communal kitchen is often used for cooking classes and demonstrationsOther interior details, such as folding screens, curtains and fluted glass windows, allow the space to be casually divided into different activity zones when required.
    Sometimes these spaces host workshops or classes, allowing residents to engage with local businesses.

    Chai Guys Portobello cafe interior evokes “the colour of spices”

    “We’re introducing an element of communal activity to act as a hub at ground floor, in a similar fashion to what’s been happening in other co-living arrangements,” said Potter.
    “It means you have the opportunity to create a genuine sense of community within a city centre.”
    The building was previously an office blockOn the apartment floors, the existing floorplates made it possible to create larger homes than typical co-living units, arranged on opposite sides of a central corridor.
    Apartments come fully furnished, with bedrooms and bathrooms separate from the living areas.
    The renovation provides 120 apartments in total”Office buildings typically have slim floor plates with decent floor spans and high proportions of glazing-to-floor area, so make ideal opportunities for residential conversion,” Potter explained.
    “Likewise, floor-to-ceiling heights don’t tend to pose an issue for residential,” he added. “Typically, commercial floor heights are higher than what you expect in residential, meaning that you get better aspects of light into the spaces.”
    The apartments are larger than is typical for co-livingLivingway offers five of these units as hotel rooms, available for short stay. But guests don’t have access to all of the communal facilities; most are reserved for residents.
    Technology plays an important role in the building management. An app allows residents to book certain rooms or sign up for workshops and classes, while digital locks allow access to be controlled.
    The communal spaces feature colours and patterns that reference the 1970sThe interior design approach reflects the building’s 1970s heritage, with furniture and finishes that don’t shy away from colour and pattern.
    Standout spaces include the cinema room, an all-red space featuring large upholstered chairs, tubular wall lights and art-deco-style mouldings.
    Across the rest of the ground floor, the exposed concrete waffle-slab overhead brings an industrial feel that contrasts with the warmth of the wood surfaces and soft furnishings.
    Standout spaces include a cinema screening roomThe homes feature a more subtle palette, with muted tones rather than white, to allow residents to bring their own personalities into the design.
    A similar level of care was brought to the outdoor spaces. These include an informal courtyard on the ground floor and the seventh-floor roof terrace, which incorporates a trio of hot tubs.
    A planted roof terrace includes three hot tubsThe project builds on SODA’s experience of designing shared spaces. The studio has designed various spaces for workplace provider The Office Group (TOG), including Liberty House and Thomas House.
    The collaboration with Livingway came about after the company reached out to the studio via Instagram.
    “It is amazing to see what a beautiful result has been produced and how much our residents truly enjoy calling Roco their home,” added Samantha Hay, CEO for Livingway.
    The photography is by Richard Chivers.

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      SODA offers model for office-to-residential conversions with Roco in Liverpool

      by

      London studio SODA has converted a 1970s office block in Liverpool city centre into a residential building that  includes co-working and wellness facilities.

      The adaptive reuse project sees the 10-storey block, which spent decades as an office for HM Revenue and Customs, transformed into rental homes managed by operator Livingway.
      Communal spaces take up most of the ground floorRoca contains 120 one- and two-bedroom apartments, plus two floors of co-living-style amenities for residents. These include workspaces, a large kitchen, cinema room, gym and treatment rooms and a planted roof terrace.
      Russell Potter, co-founding director at SODA, believes the project can serve as a model for office-to-residential conversions in city-centre locations.
      The design includes mix of flexible lounge and workspaces”The leaps that office design has made over the past decade or two have meant that certain period properties from the 1960s and 70s are perhaps not the most desirable from a commercial point of view,” he told Dezeen.

      “But if they occupy prime city-centre locations, they can offer amazing opportunities to adapt and re-use, to reinvigorate city centres with genuinely flexible and crafted spaces.”
      A timber “activity wall” provides surfaces, seating and storageLivingway’s model is a version of co-living. By offering Roca residents access to communal spaces, in addition to their apartments, it aims to foster a sense of community.
      Many of these shared spaces can be found on the ground floor. Here, various work, lounge and dining spaces are organised around a timber “activity wall” that provides surfaces, storage and seating.
      A communal kitchen is often used for cooking classes and demonstrationsOther interior details, such as folding screens, curtains and fluted glass windows, allow the space to be casually divided into different activity zones when required.
      Sometimes these spaces host workshops or classes, allowing residents to engage with local businesses.

      Chai Guys Portobello cafe interior evokes “the colour of spices”

      “We’re introducing an element of communal activity to act as a hub at ground floor, in a similar fashion to what’s been happening in other co-living arrangements,” said Potter.
      “It means you have the opportunity to create a genuine sense of community within a city centre.”
      The building was previously an office blockOn the apartment floors, the existing floorplates made it possible to create larger homes than typical co-living units, arranged on opposite sides of a central corridor.
      Apartments come fully furnished, with bedrooms and bathrooms separate from the living areas.
      The renovation provides 120 apartments in total”Office buildings typically have slim floor plates with decent floor spans and high proportions of glazing-to-floor area, so make ideal opportunities for residential conversion,” Potter explained.
      “Likewise, floor-to-ceiling heights don’t tend to pose an issue for residential,” he added. “Typically, commercial floor heights are higher than what you expect in residential, meaning that you get better aspects of light into the spaces.”
      The apartments are larger than is typical for co-livingLivingway offers five of these units as hotel rooms, available for short stay. But guests don’t have access to all of the communal facilities; most are reserved for residents.
      Technology plays an important role in the building management. An app allows residents to book certain rooms or sign up for workshops and classes, while digital locks allow access to be controlled.
      The communal spaces feature colours and patterns that reference the 1970sThe interior design approach reflects the building’s 1970s heritage, with furniture and finishes that don’t shy away from colour and pattern.
      Standout spaces include the cinema room, an all-red space featuring large upholstered chairs, tubular wall lights and art-deco-style mouldings.
      Across the rest of the ground floor, the exposed concrete waffle-slab overhead brings an industrial feel that contrasts with the warmth of the wood surfaces and soft furnishings.
      Standout spaces include a cinema screening roomThe homes feature a more subtle palette, with muted tones rather than white, to allow residents to bring their own personalities into the design.
      A similar level of care was brought to the outdoor spaces. These include an informal courtyard on the ground floor and the seventh-floor roof terrace, which incorporates a trio of hot tubs.
      A planted roof terrace includes three hot tubsThe project builds on SODA’s experience of designing shared spaces. The studio has designed various spaces for workplace provider The Office Group (TOG), including Liberty House and Thomas House.
      The collaboration with Livingway came about after the company reached out to the studio via Instagram.
      “It is amazing to see what a beautiful result has been produced and how much our residents truly enjoy calling Roco their home,” added Samantha Hay, CEO for Livingway.
      The photography is by Richard Chivers.

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      Chai Guys Portobello cafe interior evokes “the colour of spices”

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      Local studio SODA has used warm colours and natural materials to create the first store for tea brand Chai Guys on Portobello Road in London’s Notting Hill neighbourhood.

      The studio drew on the “informal nature” of drinking masala chai tea when designing the interior for the cafe – the first one for the Chai Guys brand, which has previously operated from market stalls.
      The Chai Guys cafe is located on Portobello Road in London”We wanted to keep true to the informal nature of drinking chai by creating a grounded space with low-level seating where there is always room for one more by pulling up a stool,” SODA interior designer Matilde Menezes told Dezeen.
      “The counter was kept quite low, too, to showcase the act of serving chai, which is quite theatrical.”
      The interior has plaster walls and boucle seatsThe Chai Guys Portobello cafe comprises a seating area and a front-of-house desk where the tea is prepared, as well as a bakery at the back that sells pastries.

      As many of the visitors will be getting takeaway drinks, Menezes says she wanted to provide “an impactful impression that was simple and subtle at the same time”.
      Timber panelling clads part of the wallsThe studio also aimed for the 55-square-metre space to be a peaceful refuge from hectic Portobello Road and to reference the Chai Guys branding.
      “The brand is a modern take on chai with its black dynamic typography layered over clean and minimal design,” Menezes explained.

      SODA creates contemporary MYO offices inside 1970s London building

      “We wanted the colour palette to sit back and let the branding and product be the main event in moments such as the counter, the shopfront, and the retail shelving,” she added.
      “In areas where the branding wasn’t present, we wanted the palette to evoke the colours of the spices and standalone as a direct but understated reference to chai.”
      SODA used natural materials like leather and wood for the cafeThe studio chose to work mainly with natural materials for the interior, which features walls in Clayworks plaster.
      “Clayworks is non-toxic, has low embodied energy and carbon, is breathable, passively regulates humidity and is produced in the UK,” Menezes said.
      “On top of this, the handmade quality of each stroke and lived-in quality complemented the aesthetic we were trying to achieve.”
      A counter serves Chai tea and pastriesSODA also clad the walls in timber panelling and chose boucle and leather for the seating, adding to the store’s tactile feel.
      “Timber has its innate grain and richness, leather ages and provides sheen and the boucle appeals to the touch and is quite striking in the Masala tone,”  Menezes said.
      “All these tactile touchpoints were selected to be resilient in a high-traffic commercial space.”
      Other recent projects by SODA, which was founded by Laura Sanjuan and Russell Potter in 2012, include a colourful interior for The Office Group and a theatre with a revolving auditorium.

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      SODA designs workspaces with “high-end retail aesthetic” for Liberty House

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      London studio SODA based the bold interiors of The Office Group’s Liberty House offices on Regent Street on the colourful prints of the adjacent Liberty London department store.The studio created the interiors for two separate, flexible workspaces in the same building, called Liberty House and Liberty Rooms.
      While the designs vary in the two areas, both were informed by the classic fabric Liberty prints produced by the department store next door.

      Above: warm terracotta hues were used for the interiors. Top image: arched doorways decorate the rooms

      The larger workspaces of Liberty House features a calmer, more neutral palette of colours and materials than the bold event spaces and meeting rooms in Liberty Rooms.
      The department store originally traded out of Liberty House, before moving one door down.
      “The relationship with the Liberty’s department store was the starting point for the graphic identity and the interior concept,” SODA architect Parvathy Vipulendran told Dezeen.
      “The iconic Liberty prints inspired the colour palette of the design, while the mock-Tudor building inspired the high-end retail aesthetic and crafted objects positioned throughout the scheme.”

      The building hosts two contemporary workspaces, Liberty House and Liberty Rooms
      The studio wanted to ensure that the interior had a coherent design language, something it thought especially important for “a building of this grandeur.” Liberty House is a Grade II-listed building.
      In order to keep the interior design coherent, the studio chose to remove a number of non-load bearing walls to open the space up and create an “appropriate” sense of scale for the rooms, which include meeting rooms, focus booths, breakout spaces, lounges, private offices and a kitchen and dining area.

      Cold and warm colours are mixed in the kitchen and dining area
      SODA used a colour palette of neutral warm beiges for the office spaces and bolder colours, such as dark petrol blue hues, bright yellow and warm terracotta, for the more public spaces, the meeting rooms and the bathrooms.
      The material use and form language inside the building was also informed by its well-known neighbour as well as by the Liberty House building itself.

      The colour palette was inspired by the building and by Liberty London fabrics
      “We built a core material palette that was inspired by Liberty House and the Liberty fabrics, which comprised of scalloped panelling, tiling, oak joinery and floors, reeded glass, and more functional materials such as vinyl,” Vipulendran said.
      “The scalloped surfaces can be seen in the facade of Liberty House, so it was a really nice way to bring the language of the exterior internally and apply it on key joinery elements.”

      Terrazzo adds pattern interest to a kitchen in warm neutral colours
      The scalloped design of the house’s facade was also referenced on some of the doors inside Liberty House.
      “The routing on the upper floor tea points and doors has the same rhythm as the scallop and elevate these doors above a standard office door,” Vipulendran said.
      “The rhythm of these vertical lines are beautifully complemented by the lines of the curtains through the scheme.”

      SODA creates contemporary MYO offices inside 1970s London building

      In some of the spaces, including tea points and bathrooms, SODA chose to use Altrock and Durat terrazzo material to create more striking patterned interiors. The studio collaborated with Altrock to create bespoke coloured surfaces that would match the design.

      Handcrafted objects decorate the space
      As well as informing the colours and shapes of the office space, the Liberty department store also lent some of its in-store aesthetic to the interior, which features a number of hand-crafted objects throughout as well as pieces that nod to display cases.
      “This is expressed most clearly in the main lounge and reception, where we used light, bright tiled surfaces to highlight key joinery objects,” Vipulendran said.
      “These were inspired by the craftsmanship and the display of high-end items in Liberty. These jewel-box cabinetry pieces are arranged through the reception and lounge to create islands of social activity along the length of this open space.”

      Large period windows allow light to fall into the lounge
      SODA’s branding for the project also plays off Liberty London’s typeface, with an abstract pattern derived from the letters “Liberty” used to create prints on both textiles and surfaces inside Liberty House.
      While the final design encompasses many different types of rooms, one stands out to Vipulendran.
      “The lounge is particularly spectacular as from this space you can really appreciate the richness of Liberty House and its prominent location along Regent Street,” the architect said.
      “The room comes to life in the afternoon when the sunlight falls through the big period windows and illuminates the variety of surfaces.”
      SODA recently designed the interiors for a flexible workspace in a gridded 1970s building, while The Office Group’s latest London workspace prior to this one was designed by Note Design Studio.
      Photography is by Ed Reeve.

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      SODA creates contemporary MYO offices inside 1970s London building

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      The gridded facade of this office in central London informed the arrangement of its interiors, where SODA has built a series of flexible workspaces that can be adjusted to suit different occupants. The 3,716-square-metre MYO offices take over the second and third floors of 123 Victoria Street, a mixed-use building that lies just a short […] More