16 Chart Street

16 Chart Street is the redevelopment of a 1930’s former furniture warehouse. Engineered timber has been used to create contemporary and adaptable office space whilst retaining almost all the original structural fabric. Using CLT panels and hardwood LVL beams, the existing four-storey building has been extended sideways and upwards. Conceived as an open studio space, the new third-floor level has been designed to promote collaboration, and features a flexible, column-free space with four rows of 10m long north-light windows. A vertical, lightweight CLT extension has been added to the side of the existing building which complements the new sawtooth roof structure and creates light-filled flexible space for meetings, alongside a new stair and lift core, and a new covered building entrance. Hardwood LVL beams were chosen to support the northlight windows, while CLT panels to carry the sawtooth roof. The result is a considered and didactic expression of the building’s construction with expressed panel joints, exposed lamellas, and undisguised connections, all demonstrating the building's sequencing. Elsewhere in the building, new floor areas have been created using a hybrid of steel and CLT, freeing up the existing structure to create open plan working areas, collaborative neighborhoods, and break out spaces.