This 16,000 square foot office for the Beggars Group US offices, houses the workings of four independent record labels (4AD, Matador, XL, Rough Trade and True Panther) under the Beggars umbrella, with a recording studio for audio and video mixing, and on-site storage of  their recordings archive.

This location was one of the last manufacturing spaces in Soho, and the approach to the design was to leave the evidence of this habitation where present, and infill with clear separation of the new.

Conflating three floors into a connected space with the use of opening and mezzanines was a strategy to promote a more convivial space. This breaking-down the floor was to unify the staff and visually connect the five distinct labels. The designs unifies the cellar and ground floor and adds a mezzanine with a series of deletions of floor space and additions above, visually linking the working environs. This ‘office in cross section’ concept is also divided in plan between the lounge side and the office side. The lounge side includes at its heart a three-floor high space with repurposed wood joist stadium seats that serve both the employees and visiting bands 24/7 who use the recording studio in the lower lever sub cellar.

The design elements pay homage to the industrial history of the building and the area. Reinterpreted factory floor windows divide the interior rooms and space. An entire steel mezzanine was hung from the floor above. Exposed welds and mill finished steel completed the finish.